Shudder

Of all the fearsome creatures of the night,
the werewolves and the poltergeists, the mummies,
there's one that will induce my fight or flight:
ventriloquist abandoned feral dummies.
I surely fear the monster underneath
the bed and even more so in the closet,
and also nearly anything with teeth,
but dummies, of all things? One's left to posit
the presence of some trauma, long repressed --
deep seated fear of clowns is an example,
a healthy disrespect of the possessed
by demons -- there the evidence is ample.
Or is it that I've simply been unlucky
and watched too many episodes of Chucky?