Monsters in Shadows

The sun lights the brick
Of the house
Across the street
And blue shadows fall
Between it and me

It’s early afternoon
and soon will grow dark
The path through the woods
Shadowed by exclamation marks

At night it’s coyotes
And a hunting moon
But in late afternoon
It’s men in hoods

Dark figures trudging
Through well packed snow
And women oblivious
Walking alone

They say there are monsters
In the woods
That prowl and hunt
Until the dawn

But I know better
Than to trust old myths,
The monsters I know
Live in town