C. T. Suddeth

I wish everyone a scary, fun, safe Halloween. Don’t disturb ghosts, the dead, the undead, and so on. This is a poem of mine that Spider magazine published in 2012:

THE MONSTER IN THE LAKE

He sticks his head right out of the water;

With big, red eyes, he peeks at me,

His neck is long and his tail is spiny,

He’s green and scaly and huge and ugly.

I run and give Momma the terrible news,

She doesn’t listen, she doesn’t believe.

I hurry to Papa and tell what I saw,

He laughs and snickers and chuckles and snorts.

Back at the lake the monster winks,

He thinks it’s funny, he thinks it’s a joke,

But I’m not smiling and I’m not happy,

I’ll show that monster a thing or two.

I grab my camera, pop off the cap,

He shakes his head, he splashes me,

Flips his tail, dives under the waves,

And never says goodbye.