Mama, the girl whispers, mama there are monsters here,
monster under sheet covers and beds. monsters in closets
and monsters pretending to friends

Monsters as boys pretending to be men and monsters as men behaving like boys and
monsters as women looking the other way and monsters that embrace the light rather than shun it

Monsters who are never blamed and walk with sunlight on their skin. Monsters with supporters. Monsters with children and wives and monsters that keep coming & coming & coming

Mama, the girl whispers, mama the monsters are coming

The mother doesn’t say anything, whether because she doesn’t want to believe
or because she deems what happened to horrifying to admit
the mother keeps her silence

The girl weeps

 

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Keith J. Castillo is a nonbinary, autistic poet with works published in a variety of places. He has a black and white dog he affectionately calls ‘Death’. If you want to learn more about his (or his dog) you can find him on twitter @nonbinarybird.