Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2019. Previously published as I Love You (LukivPress [Quesnel, BC], 1999; CanTeach [Vancouver, BC], 2002). Various poems in this collection have appeared in one or more of Ahoy, Tale Spinners, The Speaker, Coffee Break, Carson Communique, Robin's Nest, Kwil Kids Quarterly, and Time for Rhyme. The author performed (singing, guitar playing) "I Love You" and "I Have a Car" at McNaughton Caf? (June 13, 2013). // An excerpt // The Beast Beneath My Bed // There's a creepy-crawly monster / Underneath my bed; / It's a horribly hairy beastie / With an ugly purple head. // I know it's there; / I know it is; / I hear it in the night. / It'll groan and spit and even hiss, / And maybe take a bite. // Yes, maybe take a bite / It will, / And eat up both my feet, / So never do I let them hang / Outside my cotton sheet. // I worry much / About this thing, / This thing that lurks below. / I chew my nails / And try to sleep / And utter not a peep. // But down below / That toothy nest / Of jaws and paws and claws / Is waiting just to eat me / While I try to get some rest. // If only I could teach it / Not to treat me so. / Just how do I do that? / Does anybody know?
