The Librarian’s Nightmare

One person does something about it,
This thing that’s harrowing all of them—
Attempts to carefully excavate

The tide—not turn it, actually,
Not send the waves all scurrying home,
But climb out of the pit made for it,

By it, where nothing but suburban
Parking lot inhabited the world
Only minutes ago. In horror

Stories, it’s the unmentionable
Mentioned over and over again
That always counts as the horror show.

Horror’s just what reverses itself
To return quietly to its shelf.