I felt a hand tethering my breath and cutting it into a clan

of monsters.

A voice pitched into my ears and said, ^IOh Robin,

there are no monsters  in the dark except the shadows ^IIyour eyes, curious,

morphed into a flute.

^IIIYour hearts in a cage clandestine with tendrils,

thin & coiling, ^IVtwining from root to route like the hair

of Medusa

dancing off its twist. ^VThis is how it all begins. ^VIAt the dusk

of the night, 1600 years ago, ^VIIa hummingbird hovered over

a streetlight

^VIII& a shadow X times the size of a human body with a hundred

layers of flesh billowing into ^XIworms, vampires, lycans & all

the spirits

hanging on the clothesline of the night ^Xcrept through the ribs

of the windows into rooms and ^XIwashed their names on walls,

under the beds,

in the spike of dust, & on the jawline of terrors ^XIIuntil the entire sphere

collapsed into this turmoil, ^XIIIunhinged equilibrium.