Boredom came, its marching flattened
Every structure in my mien
That supported lively scene.
Some of me, I think, was gladdened.
Weight of blanket strangles vision.
Heavy lids oppress ambition.
Things I want to see, I dream.
Off the bed, events all seem
Touched by folk who need revision.
Slashing standard sans exception
Doesn't need a sharpened weapon.
Limp-hand scoffing is a dirk
Chopping burden, any work.
Easy time is sole intention.
I expect myself to suffer
Never. Nature laid a buffer.
Great indifference will create
Shameless distance to negate
Range of any goal disrupter.
Judgment is above me, dying,
Choked and silent while I'm lying.
Credit's mine for causing that.
I'm inventive one who spat
Vomit in its mouth for spying.
Awesome ending! Take THAT judgment! :P
ReplyDeleteA lot going on here: the endless sleeping of working and the endless critiquing while sleeping. Credit is an interesting word.
ReplyDeleteI like the way this one breathes, from being carefully phrased.
Oh, and I can't help but think of that great Elvis Costello song "And in Every Home..." how the unbelievable squalor and sadness of life can be flipped off "with an artificial limp wrist" as cliche.
Oh, man, I hate tasting vomit.
ReplyDeletesignature defiance.the penultimate stanza was the best.
ReplyDeletethanks for your perceptive comments.I am equally surprised by the swiftness with which the last two poems were born.
I feel so many things as I read this poem...happiness, sadness, anger, and burst of strength. The ending definitely kept my attention.
ReplyDeleteMy kind of poetry. Angst and defiance. I agree with everyone about the awesome ending.
ReplyDeleteOh how I know these feelings to well - business as usual.
ReplyDeleteI can feel the power coming from these words.
ReplyDeleteLots of emotion in this one, seeming to alternate between a sense of being manipulated by dreams and thoughts, to taking control of destiny in the end. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteI so relate to "chopping burden from my life. Easy time is sole intention." Oh, yes!
ReplyDeletePssitively EYE-OPENING! What a unique topic, revelation, fear:
ReplyDelete" Things I want to see, I dream.
Off the bed, events all seem
Touched by folk who need revision."
including the narrator, or is that NOT what the last verse is saying?
" Judgment is above me, dying,
Choked and silent while I'm lying.
Credit's mine for causing that."
Boredom may be a self-made hell, and a result of having "Easy time is sole intention" but I have always thought--given everything I hear out there--that my brothers and I were incredibly lucky to find rewarding work that we happy to get up for in the morning.
Jack,
ReplyDeletePerhaps it was eating cheese too late at night, which caused such stressful flashbacks and the sickness.....
Next time perhaps a book before bedtime might assist:)
Eileen
Very entertaining piece! The business of battling insomnia!
ReplyDeleteDidn't see it coming, that final vision, but reading the poem again, it seems to me that I should have.
ReplyDeleteI say, it was powerful and coming from experience.
ReplyDeleteI could visualize the struggle