RICOCHET

There came a time when

What I had for defense -

A little white quilt

And plastic sword -

Were no match

For what lurked

In my closet

Or slept under my bed.

No, there were

Different strategies

As I grew older:

An insistence

That my closet doors

Remain shut

And that my bed be high

Enough from the floor

So that any clearance for

For a person or thing hiding under it

was also of

Such a distance that I could

Use the certainty of the ceiling

to my advantage –

To push off, if necessary,

Toward speedy

Ricocheting getaways.

                                    -jim hill 7-28-2015