When I was a child, we had a black pot-bellied coal stove that daddy brought into the house in late fall for our winter heat. It was very big and took up about a third of our living room. It heated the whole house.




The Monster in the Corner

Sitting in the corner on a cold winter's night
Dark and ominous, raging, a fiery fright
Hot burning coals like teeth glowing red
With a snarl and spit, he radiates dread.
Listen! Hear the crackles of the bones
Inside the belly of this monstrous stone.
Ravenous he is with hunger unabated.
Feed me! he demands, roaring; never sated.
The heat of his breath singes and fries.
Ashes are what's left of those who've died.
Soot-filled, pungent, flaming smoke
Billows black from his creosoted throat
Peppering vestiges upon pristine snow
Covering roof tops and the ground below.

Momma, I cry, as a child in the night,
Let me sleep in your bed; that monster is a fright
It's OK baby. No need for alarm
It's only the stove that keeps us warm.

He's sittin' in the corner growlin' at me...
I see the things that momma don't see.

Kathy Lockhart
1/11/08

 

photo by: Photo by Fred J. Sass / The New York Times Photo Archives

The stove in this picture is similar to the one but in our small living room it seemed huge to me as a child.  





Poetry by Kathy Lockhart
Read 1487 times
Written on 2008-01-11 at 09:49

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lastromantichero The PoetBay support member heart!
Oh my darling katerina Le Hogue what a wonderful poem about the monster you saw in that black stove this is a very endearing poem and full of the nostalgia of your child hood and a confession of how the simple things scare you as a child. My sisters monster was a very friendlky English bulldog who she sincerely believed was a dragon come to get her
a beautiful story Katherine and full of the love your family had for each other

This reminds me of a story from the Waltons i love it and love you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxylk ly
2008-01-11



I hope that you'll write and publish a children's book, some day. You can see things through a child's eyes, which is a rare gift in a grown up!
2008-01-11


Rob Graber
This enjoyably evokes that monster from childhood!
2008-01-11


Elle The PoetBay support member heart!
Its funny how things can so terrify us as a child, a childs imagination is such a wondrous thing. You bring to life a memory

Elle x
2008-01-11