There's an alligator under Billy Balinski's bed, its idiot-grinning
teeth waiting for that very instant Billy's foot hits the floor to suck him in, like his mother's Hoover had done to his sister's doll, only his sister's doll hadn't gone all the way down; its feet were left sticking
out between the rollers. Billy imagined that's how he'd look, only his feet would be kicking and he'd
be yelling like crazy with his head deep down inside the alligator's belly. But no one would hear him, because
no noise can penetrate an alligator. But Billy Balinski wasn't going to give that alligator a chance, even
though Billy had to pee so bad it hurt.
July 1981
"Lies and Lullabies: A Series of Three Poems," included "The
Alligator Under Billy Balenski's Bed," "The Creature," and "The Barbershop." They were published
in UNCLE magazine in the Summer of 1982.
