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Insomniac Dreams

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Night and day collide
Meander and drift,
You're living life on autopilot
Just to stay awake - get through the day.

You creep through life in the shadows of reality,
Everything softened, weakened,
Perhaps.
Sounds are dulled to you
Feelings numbed, bar the heaviness...
The heaviness of wakefulness.

There's no routine anymore.
You can't conform.
That designated sleeping-time
No longer exists.
Time has no meaning.

You're tired of laying waiting for sleep
Night after night,
And waiting for sleep makes you tired
Day after day.

You prowl the night,
Brush past the black-out curtains,
Tear them down. They're futile.
Nothing can help,
Least of all the heavy, lifeless cloth.
They stir a dormant rage.

Once again wide awake,
Just when you dared think
You may have been getting somewhere.
No, still here, limbo.
Can it be limbo
If you never reach either side?

Breathe deeply,
Count the stars in the sky
Count the moonlight
Count your nerves.

What happened there?
Breathing fast you jolt as if from falling.
You couldn't fall, you know that now.
You're still in bed, the eternal wait.
Touch your eyelids lightly - are they closed?
So used to staring at darkness,
Suddenly you can't even tell
What is real.

Are you dreaming?
You can't be, because you know you're not asleep.
Unless in sleep you dream of insomnia.
It doesn't matter anymore,
Because another day begins on auto-pilot
And you spend another timeless day
Awake.

Every insomniac dreams of sleep.
In dreaming sleep you crave it more,
Craving itches every inch of skin
Burns your chest with longing
Makes you get to your feet and search
Pacing the halls you know so well,
Lifting the furniture for concealed places,
Emptying cupboards and searching the streets,
Searching your soul
For the impossible.

Tired now.
Tired does not start to describe.

Every insomniac dreams of peace.

.

In a list

A contest entry

Please tell me what you think

    I plan to revise this poem: please leave constructive criticism!
    : , Your review:

    Comment Suggestion: What is your your first impression?
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Comments

1 - 8 of 8

  • thealexrose
    November 19, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    YES! YES! YES! This is exactly what I was talking about! You gave me more to this spiraling tale of drifting through life without sleep... "Pacing the halls you know so well,
    Lifting the furniture for concealed places,
    Emptying cupboards and searching the streets,
    Searching your soul
    For the impossible."
    This is it! You've done an awesome job with this revision!
    good luck! (find sleep- sometimes it hides in the attic)
    thealex


    • Amazon Huntress
      November 20, 2008
      Edit | Reply

      thanks :)

      Sadly my attic only houses bats - for real! But I'll keep searching. If not sleep then reset at least would satisfy, the ability to close my eyes and have nothing writhe through my mind. Ugh it's so frustrating. Maybe it's under my bed.
      *~Huntress~*

  • thealexrose
    November 17, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    I'll admit the beginning startled me for a bit but you ended the poem nicely. And that's just what I'm not satisfied with, I felt like this baby could have been expanded more and took me more into this insomniac dream you forged for me. But anyway I loved it! Really I do! I just wish there was more!
    ttys
    thealex

    • Amazon Huntress
      November 18, 2008
      Edit | Reply

      Revised

      Thanks alex-rose! You inspired me to revise and renew and refresh this piece. It's one of my favorites and it was written without much thought on a night when I was waiting for sleep - as you can probably guess, that happens a lot. Will you come back and read the new version? Tell me what you think. Glad you enjoyed it.
      *~Huntress~*


  • Cesarean
    April 24, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    i like the plodding feeling you put into it. the words just kind of 'thunk' 'thunk' 'thunk' like the steps of someone who hasn't gotten enough sleep or think they haven't in any case.


  • layla.
    March 26, 2008

    Edit | Reply
    you dream of insomnia>>> your dream of insomnia???
    this is a rather clever writing. i liked reading it alot. thanks for entering


  • Blooming Poet
    March 24, 2008
    Edit | Reply
    Great take on the can't sleep prompt. Such a creative title, I was innterested from the moment I read the title. i love this part:

    You're tired of laying waiting for sleep
    Night after night,
    And waiting for sleep makes you tired
    Day after day.


    • Amazon Huntress
      March 24, 2008
      Edit | Reply

      thanks

      When you have trouble sleeping, you find yourself day-dreaming of sleep, or just wishing... it's so hard to keep hold of reality. Hope I captured this here!
      Polly

1 - 8 of 8