An Emotional Blanket
written by: Mark Tulin
It was only a blanket to some.
But to a little girl, it was more than
yarn and red silk.
It was a father’s gift
for her fearful hands to hold.
The blanket covered her spirit.
It kept her warm.
It protected her
from the monsters
in her head
and the shadows
in her room.
Shadows that scaled
her bedroom walls
at night,
and peered through
an open window.
Years have passed
since her father had gone,
but a piece of the blanket
remains,
emotions left entwined
in yarn and red silk.
Emotions triggered
when shadows
climb the walls.
A piece of her father’s soul
is a source of comfort,
leftover from childhood,
that reminds her
not to feel afraid of the dark.
Mark Tulin is a retired therapist from California. Mark's books include Magical Yogis, Awkward Grace, The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories, Junkyard Souls, Rain on Cabrillo, and Uncommon Love Poems. He's featured in Cafe Lit Magazine, Still Point Journal, The Opiate, The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Amethyst Review, Vita Brevis Press, White Enso, WryTimes, and Red Wolf Editions. He is a Pushcart nominee and a Best of Drabble.
Latest posts by Mark Tulin (see all)
- An Emotional Blanket - January 25, 2026
- Not All Poems Write Themselves - August 23, 2025
- Like Kudzu Vines - May 22, 2025
