The Mimosa Effect 2

The result of insomnia finally catching up with me. Last few poems written very late at night, in dim light, with heavy hand and bleary eyes. These are, believe it or not, significantly cleaned up from the original half-asleep ramblings. The first part reflects that lovely nails-on-blackboard level of irritability any sleep-deprived person is intimately familiar with, which then eases into the more surreal, trippy relaxed state just before passing into unconsciousness.

time slips sideways: dream to sleep

been awake too long, way too long
 too tight, taut, strung, wired
   (what is desire)
 fraught , frazzled, torn, dazzled
   (everything we want and can never have)
gone too far, yet not far enough
deep pits opening under my feet
 as I walk, steps crumble beneath
  my toes, arches bending to flat
 a high pitched screaming whine
follows me everywhere, invades
the silence, scrapes nerves raw
 little irritations stick, sting, crawl
  under my skin, through my brain
  my skin has betrayed me, called
 a mutiny, flaking off, falling
into the midnight sea, muscles
 screaming right back at the
  maddening hum, the endless buzz
 can’t get away from modern machinery
  always running, always static, bright white haze
   everything breaking, dying, falling
    apart, missing the mark, banging its shins
  I stumble scraped, raw, bleeding & bruised
  but all they see is what’s on
  the outside: rumpled, wrinkled,
   sun-burned, tousled,
  cat-scratched, pummelled
 I suck it in so no one can see
what’s really underneath

      ——

time slips back & forth
  across the slick wet ice
  it laughs at thrown
   snowballs in June
  flowers sprouting from
    December snow
  red leaves falling
   in the April rain
 in the end time does make
   fools of us all; might
  as well enjoy it
   while it lasts

      ——–

green, black, yellow, white
 blue, purple, orange, red
  handfuls of jelly-beans
    dyed happy party colours
    it wasn’t a happy party
   for the ghosts
 (they just wanted to go home)
   so we opened the doors
    and let the sunlight in
     burnt it all away
      dust into sparkles
       light on the air
      home to sleep
     and dream sweet dreams
      home at last
     to dream and sleep
      sweet dreams

- T.H.
(for NaPoWriMo)