It’s night - the urge to sleep is gone.
Inexorably time ticks on.
Fussy, mechanical, busy tick-tock
of wind up alarm or mantel clock,
or spasmodic click of a battery quartz,
soft and even.
They’re companions of sorts,
for nothing is worse
in the stillness of night
than silence –
dark, complete and utter,
when hovering thoughts intrude
to scutter around inside my brain.
Soon, there I go,
tossing and turning again.
Here I am, late, scraping out the pot of Poetry Jam belonging to Jessica Maybury this week.
Now it's Thursday Think Tank who have come up with a nighttime theme, so I couldn't resist linking this!
The sound of the ticking of the clock drives me nuts. Thanks ~
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you at Poetry Jam~
ha. i think reading all these insomnia poems are keeping me awake...smiles. every thing gets so loud when you can not sleep.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brian. If I didn't suffer from insomnia before this week, I suspect it is time to start. Love the clock imagery.
ReplyDeleteVery little keeps me awake at night ... maybe an errant dream or two. Like you .. should I awaken, I actually enjoy sounds ... a whirring fan, refrigerator motor, rain, the far off train. They lull me back to sleep.
ReplyDeleteI really like this one Jinksy - it is a poem which many could relate to - nothing worse than not being able to sleep, and the dark deadly silence other than the ticking of a clock!
ReplyDeleteI think we "creative types" experience this more than other. Thanks for your comments on my blog, Penny. Check out http://dVersepoets.com where they will have some critique opportunities (if you haven't found it already).
ReplyDeleteIve been there too.lol.
ReplyDeleteWe keep a fan running most nights - a habit left over from when we lived in an apartment & it was a necessity to drown out all the other racket. Now it's hard to imagine trying to sleep in all that deep dark quiet.
ReplyDeleteOh, those scuttering thoughts--I wish they would stop!
ReplyDeleteA good idea and well worked into the poem.
ReplyDeleteSo much happens in the night, when we all assume nothing is happening. You've shown us a bit of your nocturnal activity in a most entertaining way.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great poem! I love the rhythm and the sound. You know how you can hear a poem even when you're reading it silently in your head? That's how this poem is for me. Loving the imagery!
ReplyDeleteUsed to be a borderline insomniac and it would make me angry when I couldn't sleep. Now I go with the flow, if I sleep I am grateful, if I don't, I am grateful for this computer, and books, and colors. And a drive through a sleeping town can be quite an adventure.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
You've summed up that middle of the night feeling! Occasionally I get those 'wide awake patches'. You captured them well. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou captured the essence of restlessness...scuttering really isn't fun~
ReplyDeleteWell Done~
So true and as I don't usually sleep well I know quite what you mean. Well written!
ReplyDelete