Cave Dwellers by Daniel Fraser

Nights in that house

safety was a lost art, something

for play-pretend.

Strange carnivores, drunks and crockery

roared downstairs.

Finding his grandmother’s bed

they sat together, cross-legged,

in prehistory.

Stalactites hung from the duvet.

A campfire flared.

They invented threats

to fend off

with flints and clubs:

homespun dark

the shadows provided.

____________

Daniel Fraser is a poet and critic from Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, living in West Cork. His work can be found in: London Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, The Drift and elsewhere. His chapbook Lung Iron is published by ignitionpress.