I love this poem by Todd Dillard and am glad he shared it again today.

For the first prompt, use the line “I never thought there was a gift” as a ghostline. Don’t forget to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

For the second prompt, write of your own experience as a parent or as a child at bedtime. What creatures visited in the night? What did you—or your child—offer them or use to hide from them?

My father grew up in an old farmhouse in which the previous owner had killed himself. He believed that the man had died in his bedroom’s closet. He spent most of his childhood with the covers drawn up over his head even in the humid Midwestern summers without air conditioning.

I miss those years of reading to my daughter, the heaviness of her small body as sleep would finally catch up to her. I would offer much to have that small figure—now grown taller than I am—to once again creep into my room and ask for another story.