Cowardice & Pretense Comments

I read SERPENTINE ABYSS first and then this poem, and in a curious way they relate to each other. The one you co-wrote with Ash Flame is about a deep-seated psychological pain that won't heal but life goes on around it. This poem is about a temporary but genuine fear that is quickly dispelled but is overwhelming for a few minutes. I found the key lines for me were: I force myself to look at the crack in the door. / An eerie kind of darkness stares back. I I know that random fear which strikes us when we're alone, you've tapped a universal experience here. For the few moments it lasts, such a fear stops everything else. The relief you feel at the end of the poem, and your irritation at having been duped by your own wild imagination are both genuine.