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The Beast Under the Stairs

An Experimental Poem

By Annie KapurPublished 3 years ago 1 min read
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The Beast Under the Stairs
Photo by Ricardo Aguilera on Unsplash

The beast underneath the stairs howls at the lightbulb

above its head and crouches down under the blanket

of shame. The moonlight doesn’t come through the grates

and the sunlight is stopped at the front door.

The outside is a scary and frightening tunnel to freedom

and at war, the beast cries out and vomits, and breathes in

and out again. The beast cannot fathom why

they are trapped within the shame, within the howling at the lightbulb.

And a smack on the door

And a kick on the bannister

And a slap or a punch on a wall or a floor

It is almost a fight...

And a shout down the stairs,

And a shout through the tunnel

It doesn’t matter whether at the beast or not

The shout shuts the beast down

and they crawl back under the covers.

The shame. The silence. The seeking of refuge.

For it is the only blanket they have.

It is the beast’s calm but the beast cannot

speak as a pair of legs takes a roll of tape

and wraps up the beast’s mouth.

They have no choice but were not saying anything.

The silence is forever through gritted teeth and

year by year the teeth disintegrate under bated breath and

muted voice.

The beast crawls back under shame and regrets ever being born.

It sleeps in its own tears

all alone.

surreal poetry
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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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