Night

I cannot suck sleep out of the warm air, a clothes

runner killed beside my bed, numbers encode

the darkness, they are not curved

and I reach for your hand, warm paper over chalk hills,

rivers that flow past sinews, tunnels leading to

fingertips, the map creased into your palm.

There are dragons over the main road, they have

moving eyes and heated wings, the night has locked

out gravity, and I am full of feathers, falling up.

Reviews

[Henry]

"numbers encode the darkness, they are not curved" the images of fantasy that 'night' produces are always subject to time's winged chariot. Fascinating tapestry of images and meaning.

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

Beautifully done...as always your images are full of feeling and say so much more than the words alone.

[Dinesh Sairam]

'falling up'- you got me there. Nice little description of a(nother?) sleepless night. Keep writing.

[emmajoy]

This is an extraordinary description of a couple laid between night life and more, a nocturne to their being, touching, feeling .. being awake, lingering .. beautiful emotion to this, inside and out - that second stanza causes ripples to the mind.

[Eric Cox]

Excellent piece. Has nicely penned imagery and is good to read.

[joshua deathdealer]

This is really awesome. I love the different levels of feel and the spiced up imagery.

[Sel Whiteley]

There is such a multilayered poem: the shape of numbers that I deduce are angular is such a beautiful and intriguing image, like an alarm clock but also so symbolic of other things, like the agony with which time progresses (at least, that is how they resonated with me). I adore the tenderness in the second verse, the landscape that is created by the two entwined bodies, and "the map on the palm" with all the associations of that. The way that you defy gravity as a bird, there is so much in those last lines as throughout the poem.

[Distant horizons]

A beautifully expressivepiece, wonderfully written.

[...]

. incredible images ... each one of them is poetic and skillfully done ... i wondered about the content of this piece when i read the title ... and the content has absolutely exceeded my expectations ... excellent work ...