FOR POETRY MONTH: A Poem from WISHES, DARES, & HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY

In celebration of Poetry Month, I’d like to share a poem from my novel in verse: WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY (Creston 2020)

Jack, the 11 year old narrator, is camping in the back yard with his 5 year old sister Katie and a friend Jill. After Katie and Jill fall asleep, Jack thinks about lots of things that have been on his mind since his Dad has been MIA in Vietnam. This poems comes when he looks out into the dark night.

DARK
When I was Katy’s age, I used to be
afraid of the dark.
Shadows on the wall from cars passing by,
flashing headlights
sounds of the night
made me bury my face under the covers.

I imagined all the scary things I couldn’t see,
hiding
lurking
waiting to get me
if I wasn’t watchful. One night,
I woke up crying after a nightmare,
screaming for the monsters to go away.

Mom and Dad rushed into the room. Dad pulled
me onto his lap, rocking me
until I stopped crying.

He asked me where
the scary places were. As I pointed out each one,
he pointed a flashlight beam on it.
This is what it looks like
in the light, he said. No matter how many times
we turn off the light, it doesn’t change. He
handed the light to me and
told me to shine it wherever I thought
the scary things were.

I moved the beam in all
the corners
under the bed
inside the closet
behind the door
flicking it on and off until I was satisfied.

Then Dad said,
remember in the dark what you learn in the light.
The dark doesn’t scare me anymore,
but sometimes,
times like this,
it makes me sad.