Stuttering awake
in the anxious hours
when white noise
no longer lets you sleep
And in the mattress springs
a crawling metronome
some percussive heartbeat
one thought then another
one worry trailed by the next
Did what was said make sense?
was it understood
will this be good enough
impossible options
improbable odds
suddenly so awake
in the anxious hours
Don’t forget
to breathe…
Stuttering awake
in the anxious hours
try to recall these words
line by line
whispered in the dark
piece by piece
fall back to sleep
it’s peace upon peace
and don’t forget
to breathe…
[2019]
Thanks for reading.
this sounds so good… 🙂
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Wow thank you! After you said this, I read it aloud and thought maybe I should do a reading of it… 🙏🏼
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A pleasure to read. Like this: “a crawling metronome / some percussive heartbeat”
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Thank you! When I can’t sleep I try to remember old poems from years ago… losing myself in the half-remembered words usually lets me finally drift off. I wanted this poem to kind of capture that somewhat. 👌🏼
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I got you on that. I’ve been known to do the same. Sometimes I do this with novel chapters. I’ll rewrite them just from memory and see if it’s close to what I had before. It’s a good technique to use. And this is a good poem. But honestly, the poems you post are always exceptional.
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It really does work well, especially if you’re someone who has a fairly good memory! Thanks for your support, as always. Have a great weekend 🙏🏼
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Exactly that. Have a great weekend also!
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