funny how when we are little
monsters sneak out the closet
roaming streets and schools
sometimes our own homes
screaming for lights to be on
eventually we grow silent
hiding tired eyes, weary souls
under layers, layers of clothing
layers of beliefs, layers of makeup
layer upon layer until we are grown
then we shove monsters back
into closets and underneath beds
pretending they are gone
November 7, 2009
Jaymie Thorne's Personal Musings 
November 7th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
“pretending they are gone” is right on! Those guys are still out there lurking around! LOL Love the visual I got on this one! Thanks! 🙂
November 7th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Some of them never seem to go away.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Appropriately matching my blog about uncertainty. Kids call them closet monsters, while adults call them nightmares. I’m amazed how you and I are on similar brain waves and writing about spooky things. Now that’s spooky! I guess that why ghost stories are popular around campfires during the chill of night at this time of year. Wolves howling in the full moon, ghost haunts are more prominent, prowlers on the loose, cemeteries seem darker and colder, and sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the next scary line. 😎
November 8th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Absolutely. We have coyotes but the howl is still eerie. 🙂
November 7th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
“screaming for lights to be on”
Would I be revealing too much to admit that I still sleep with the light on sometimes? I’m a proud wimp!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:08 am
It’s good to let the light in. 🙂
November 7th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I read a Stephen King story many years ago about a toddler trying to tell his parents about a monster in his closet. They didn’t believe him until it was too late.
When my children have nightmares or dream of things that frighten them, I listen carefully, take their fears seriously, and comfort them ceaselessly.
Maybe that’s how I keep my lights on and monsters stuff under my own bed.
Beautiful work, Jaymie.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:14 am
My youngest sister often experienced night terrors when she was little. Now her daughter, 6 years old, is struck by them. You’re not supposed to wake them during these episodes. Very frightening. Now that my sister has outgrown them she calls me if she has a bad dream, even in the middle of the night (nice, huh? – lol), so now I get to help comfort. Maybe your kids won’t have to do management later since you seem to be taking their monsters with you. 🙂
November 7th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
My response is on my site: “JAY T’S CREATURE”
Like the taste of thoughts.
Regards-
Ravenstooth
November 8th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Sounds like a call to be our own light. Thank you.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
pretnding something is gone can really be effective…
“what you will be without that thought?”..one famous person says every time, she is ‘helping’ someone….when i read about her work…i thought ..wow yes..lets go in denial and be happy!!
November 8th, 2009 at 3:23 am
This is good advice on many levels. Choose our reality, yes?
November 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
shoving fear in a closet…pretending they are gone..never really works…they always come back..
grabs my flashlight and bravely says…lets face that monster head on…ready??
nice work…
November 8th, 2009 at 3:25 am
This really makes me smile. I used to keep a flashlight in my nightstand when I was little. Not for the monsters but for reading under the covers when I was supposed to be asleep. 🙂 Maybe I was fighting the monsters by staying awake?
November 8th, 2009 at 1:18 am
When my brother and I were little we were big on crying and mom invented the Sack Man, she’d tell us that if we didn’t quit crying he’d come grab us, throw us in his sack and take us with him to his house in the woods.
We believed the story and we’d stop crying each time she started calling his name.
One day at a family function we started our crying and she called him, we didn’t stop crying and what do you know the Sack Man came with his brown dirty sack and wearing gum boots and something that hid his face. He tried to grab us and our aunt protected us.
We only learned years later that the person was only pretending to be the Sack Man, we were told mom had asked grandma’s sister to pretend so we’d shut up.
But between you and me, I still believe in the Sack Man and I believe it was him that day;)
November 8th, 2009 at 3:30 am
My grandma told us something similar to “sack man” – I don’t know how to spell or write what she called him – I think it roughly translates to shadow man. We were so scared that she could stop 15 grandkids from misbehaving at a time, lol! I think I believed in shadow man more than santa. I hope sack man is locked up tight so you have only sweet dreams.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
… until they appear again to rip off those layers, leaving us cold and exposed.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Ugly, ugly monsters.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
oh those damn monsters!
i’ve drawn them and smoked them out
they still scamper some….
It’s AMAZING to me how they always seem to find new hiding places! I LOVE your lines:
‘eventually we grow silent
hiding tired eyes, weary souls
under layers, layers of clothing
layers of beliefs, layers of makeup’
Am always sayin’ we’re just a bunch of five-year-olds who need a big fat hug and a nice mug of hot chocolate!
Thank You Jaymie and Cheers and Namaste. 🙂
November 8th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
You know it! Sending out hugs!
November 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I think I’m still trying to get over the monster in the closet syndrome, lol. Beautifully written, and what an AWESOME pic to go with…
November 8th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I think that syndrome is fairly prevalent. 😉
November 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Yep! Just wanted to add that I apologize for not visiting more often… this new job is eating my time like no closet monster ever could, lol.
I finally have to be realistic and just acknowledge that I probably won’t get around to visiting my favorite bloggies (yours being one of them!) more than once a week. But never fear, I will be around!)
November 8th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
I hope the new job is going well, sounds like it is…I will be here!
November 8th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Mine were always under the bed.
To this day I still keep things stuffed under there – under the guise of utilizing space and being efficient and all, but I know the real reason. 😉
Great job capturing that fear. 🙂
November 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I feel so much better now! I thought I was a pack rat that needed more space. 🙂 I’m just making sure there is no room for monsters!
November 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
love this, and so true!! 🙂
November 8th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Darn monsters.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:43 am
Hi Jaymie ! Very well written ! I also miss my childhood a lot .. I agree there is a hidden monster in each one of us .
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November 9th, 2009 at 9:06 am
It would be nice if they all disappeared during puberty.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
someone has struck yet another universally responsive chord and skillfully presented it as a poem – great job Jaymie.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Those closet monsters, they lurk everywhere.