Wrote this a couple weeks ago. I named my latest poetry volume after it.

Monster on an Elastic Leash

January 7^th, 2006

Soft fingers tickling, touching, grabbing,

Creeping where they never should be.

Peeling away the soft and the vulnerable,

Tightening the knot that’s inside me.

Tether me, naked, into this damp world.

The darkness strips me, breeding with fright.

A monster on an elastic leash

Is snarling from inside the hell of the night.