Instructions on Damaging the Monster's Cloak of Invisibility

Grendel appears as a wolf in the kitchen
Grendel appears as a shark
beneath the dining room floor
Grendel appears as a monster named Grendel

Might I have some money? asks a man
and you turn: is this the monster?
Here, says a nun, let's watch TV together
I knew and liked your mother

Grendel Grendel Grendel
you say
cowering in the dream of the shark
that cowers inside the dream of the wolf
Say his name enough and
it sits like snow
on a chain link fence
not so invisible now

From The Animals All Are Gathering, published by University of Pittsburgh Press. Copyright © 2011 by Bradley Paul. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.