a two-part matter of monsters


monsters

monster means something important
out for show
but we know monster
really
for ourselves and
also monstrous

connotation
and old scary movies
and before that
illustrations here and there on paper
though mostly
through
stories

the monster that we see outside
and
do not see
the gruntings or the screams we think we
hear

there is what goes into
and has always been
inside
the mind

monsters worse that in there
rise
sometimes in sleep
or we take them waking into
feeling
thinking
the spirit
the ego

our inner things fed one way or another
and then become
our conscious
if monsters not-consciously influence
‘til
they’re
known
maybe through counsel

maybe we learn to drag the beasts from
deep lurking
into a shallow sunlit place
where they
are known
and
let
awareness both appreciate as well as
eschew

all monsters
doubting
they do not go away
so we’ll pursue
and
come to know in unshadowed time
and circumstances
live with
then
the monstrous as
best
(not beast)
as we may


monstrous negotiation

maybe that’s how I’ll leave it
a discussion
for
the day
of what’s monstrous

what are the beasts that lurk away
or want
to invade
and also the shaded things
as creatures
that
we keep inside

the world
certainly can
be
a bestial place

look at D. C.
and also western Asia with points
west
and east
until except for penguin colonies
the Earth is subsumed
by
all the monster presences
and possibilities

and we think monster-hunting will
resolve
except the monstrous will not like it
and might attack
or simply
push
tall and deadly things from
the forests in
our way

the forest out there
and
of course
the woods in here

the fairytale monsters
point
toward us while
reading or
otherwise receiving

and while they
return
and so we have more stories
maybe there’s
a matter of negotiation
that
only lately
except for Androcles
the narratives are positing

that
we make friends
with dragons
and
so ask Saint George to consider new
pursuits

that we bargain with ourselves
as well
and the clawed and jagged creature-parts
dwelling
deep
but changing moods
and agendas near and over the surface
to outside
and
then each other

rather
to learn the monsters
that
we won’t need to feed them

they’ll be fine

and teach us in return
that what is
monstrous
needs no encouragement
but
in appreciation
then
of everything we are

chastened
we step into the waters of the world
all the currents
even
caves once knowing
what inhabits
there

in me
in you
so us
and in them
until the them be us as well


c l couch


photo by steffen wienberg on Unsplash