A Dream

These cheap sheets itch

and no matter how many sheep 

manifest on this spackled ceiling,

every single night, I am a sentinel.

Counting backwards from total 

loss to love's conception in a truck 

cab, on the parkway, stars 

can't undo this particular set of failures.

So i breathe deeply

in a way that shows 

i'm in way over my head,

but i'm wearing it well.

---------

One deliberate step takes my body over 

the canyons edge, chasing air towards the river, 

where the water may wash me clean,

but the fall will hurt like hell.

I don't have the strength to drag myself out 

and crawl up that cold, sharp rock again.  

I'd rather drown somewhere down stream

in the warm, still water of the lake.

And if clean hands try to save me,

I'll take them, and shake them.

Life is too short to be impolite

and too long to abide loneliness. 

One moment closer to sleeping in the water

as a broken man, but more solidly

climbing, slowly back up the canyon

just to walk off the edge.

Reviews

[Jimmy Yetts]

"Life is too short to be impolite." While certainly not axiomatic, it is a notion I like and wish more people would adopt.
Am also plagued by insomnia--though I often comfort myself with the thought that the inability to fall asleep is far less distressing than would be the inability to awaken.
Great write, Brett!

[Brett Moore]

That's a good point! haha

Thanks for the review!

[John Ciarmello]

I liked this Brett! If you're able to write like this with no sleep Imagine what you could do with eight hours under the sheets every night! Best wishes Brett! You have talent sir! Good Night!

[Fabian G. Franklin]

It sounds very lonely...but lonely places can often be spurs to inspiration and imagination...I enjoyed the read.

[Zahra]

And if clean hands try to save me,
I'll take them, and shake them.
Life is too short to be impolite
and too long to abide loneliness.
Interesting style and voice. Very nicely expressed.

[Robbie~xoxo~]

I'm impressed by your ability to convey this dream... truly enigmatic!...
You carry a certain pain in your words, that reach out to me..
I know insomnia well... it seems to forge dreams of another realm..
sometimes we drown in the deep waters... and sometimes it cleanses...

Well penned, Brett.... emotive write! xx :)

[Ghost of Jupiter]

"One moment closer to sleeping in the water
as a broken man, but more solidly
climbing, slowly back up the canyon
just to walk off the edge."

This last stanza was brilliant! Wonderful read.

[Adam Whitworth]

liked this one brett, well done

[Frieda P]

I held my breath through most of this Brett, and the ending stanza was amazing, really wrapped up the feelings of malcontent and loneliness. Top shelf, going into my favorites toot sweet!

"One moment closer to sleeping in the water'..
...!

[Cassie]

"Life is too short to be impolite and too long to abide loneliness" this is my best line and onto the poem, you are a good writing and you made me engrossed as I read, I enjoyed the whole poem. Good job my fellow collegue