Child's Play
by Barb Lundy
Barb Lundy

Barb Lundy is a hypnotherapist. She taught writing for many years at Denver area colleges. She’s been widely published, including work in JAMA, The Potomac Review and The MacGuffin. Barb was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005.

Her breath shallows
when his key turns
when hinges sigh under
the weight of listing oak.

And when he shuts the door
everyone tiptoes
on the thin black ice
of his silent rage.

She waits in the shadows
of the den until
Budweiser and ESPN
lull him to sleep.

Then she drops captured
cat spiders in his hair
and watches as they
crawl awake his terror.

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