night light

hear a poem i wrote many years ago: night light



1. up all night staring at the walls and the animals in the cracks on the ceiling by
the night light the animals talk to you and tell you stories and preside over your
dreams like a black robed menagerie hinting away nightmares letting you
dream of fun and interesting adventures with them or in airplanes in dogfights or civil war heroism or newfound reenactments of events past in this life the way things could/should have been-- fun- happy et cetera

2. looking through the new sears catalog picking out the coolest biggest toys you
know you'll never get for christmas hoping for something half that neat always
wondering about the people who really had that car bed or the cool g.i. joe tent
that hid their sleeping bag in the den and the eight foot plastic aircraft carrier
had room for more than twice the toys you had but made it more interesting with a skeleton crew maybe ghost ship like the latenight movie of the abandoned oil vessel that killed passengers and captain

3. walkie talkie listening in on latenight conversations not too nearby making up a name for yourself trying to make friends and figure out all the necessary lingo-
break one four break one four- a night cry for friendship and attention heard
through the cotton fields and down the nearby interstate each night

4. sometimes playing in the dark it's even night in the world of these toy soldiers as airplanes flew overhead out the window planes did the same over your bed night raids and rescue missions of your own liking mostly making peace with warring factions or betrayal for the betterment of this mock society in the end M.A.D. wasn't sure just a permanently momentary peace to pass another night

5. boasts and fears on a bestfriend's floor in a sleeping bag considering next
morning's soccer game or hike and possible strategy in woodland wargames
guns kept handy in case of intruders or parents or brothers invading the safety
of night light

6. bestfriend's little sister wants you to read her bedtime story not him and there is a fight over it that you win as he stomps off and you convince him later in the trundle bed that it's not that big a deal and hell he does it all the time and plus he can use the cool jet tomorrow after school and you plan the next battle no one will win and fall to sleep (losing another battle) smiling