I wrote this for an English assignment. I had to write a poem based on a question. (Where did you sleep when you were four or five?)

When I was four or five,

I slept on my parents' couch,

or in the hallway

outside their bedroom door,

for I was afraid

of the m o n s t e r s

that lurk in closets,

hidden in the daytime,

only to emerge when

nobody but I was there,

but shrink back into the shadows

when Dad came in for a late night investigation

(I swear, it's in there,

it's only hiding,

you just can't see it)

for I was under the

i l l u s i o n

that parents

would protect me from

everything.