Under the Bed

Darkness is the murk
where monsters lurk,
the black gulp of sky
in the depths of night,
when no stars glisten
and no moon listens.
It’s the silent smother
under the cover
when you get it in your head
that something’s under the bed.

Kim M. Russell, 27th May 2024

Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

This Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub our host is Punam, who is appealing to our dark side, asking us to pull up the shroud of darkness and spill our darkest deeds/secrets in a small poem of 44 words. Yes, the word we must include is ‘darkness’.

Punam not only goes into great detail about the different types and qualities of darkness, she also gives us two example extracts, one from a poem by Edward Thomas, and from Robert Frost.

I have taken an old poem from 2019 and quadrillised it.

61 thoughts on “Under the Bed”

  7. Hi Kim, I wish I could take credit for this wonderfully inspired prompt but your dark delving of things that go bump in the night but it’s wholly due to Punam! Like her I too was wowed by “the black gulp of the sky”. I can still remember “the silent smother under the cover” as a child – so aptly put.

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      1. You’re welcome! (I mentioned Punam only because you attributed her hosting the quadrille to me in your post. I promise I haven’t lost my mind. 😀)

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  8. Oh beautifully done. Such a fun poem that brings back memories. I can’t remember the last time I did the big jump from the edge of the bed to make sure there was safe distance between me and the monster lurking under the bed.

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  21. Goodness, these first three lines are just brilliant.
    “Darkness is the murk
    where monsters lurk,
    the black gulp of sky”

    “black gulp of sky” is particularly gonna stick with me for awhile. LOVE.

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  24. We had the same take on this Kim except you went for rhyme (which suits a poem about/for children) while mine was more alliterative…

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