and you’re waking up yelling NO BIG SPIDER
through a baby monitor we don’t even
keep the volume turned up on
because your room is so close to ours
between walls thinner than a womb.
How long will it be before it is creepy
that we watch you sleep? One eye on you
the other on a phone like a paparazzo
desperate to take a picture of your
vulnerable state.

© Carl Burkitt 2022