Melatonin or Cabernet

A poet struggles with sleep while facing an uncertain future.

Melatonin or Cabernet

 

 

Shrieking volume from the twelve inch

Endless commercial interruptions

Pets insisting on fresh air

As agitations stir

 

Already bewildered with stress

Magnified by insecurities and unfamiliarity

Can’t read, can’t sit, can’t stand to talk about it

There will be no sleep tonight

 

Huddling unstill on cold steel porch chairs

Contemplating, dreading, assuming

The next day’s friendly confrontation

Towards an unforeseeable future

 

So many people have so much power

Over my life

So many laws govern the edges

Of my insomnia

Often times the only savior

Is a sip of red

Or three grams of white

 

Half an hour in front of the alphabet

Fragmenting emotions into sentences

Takes the edge off the edge

And clears the cot

 

The day winds up like a turbine for sixteen hours

How can we expect it to crash so quickly?

Yet the covers beckon and the eyes cloud

The chemicals have won

 

 

Learn more about Alex Hutchinson at:

www.SuburbanFiction.com

 

Author's Note

This poem is for an upcoming collection. Any comments might be used as advanced praise.

Reviews

[Mike Carson]

So many people have so much power

Over my life

So many laws govern the edges

Of my insomnia

I am finding this very much to my liking Alex...a parable for the modern age...especially with the close:

The chemicals have won

Very nice indeed! I have a link here you might want to take a look at...a partial list of my grandfather's writings...I just found it.

http://kitcarson.multiply.com/journal/item/264/From_The_Library_Of_Congress

[Jessica M.]

mmmmm
the great pleasures of insomnia.
if melatonin works for you, you're lucky.
it gives me hallucinations
in which v-shaped needles and tourniquets tear my veins out...
"fragmenting emotions into sentences"
such a truth of poetry.
nice one.

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Alex,

A wonderful write about the pressure charged world we live in. And you paint the high agitation level very well that ends in the "Can't read, can't sit, can't stand to talk about it". Very nice work.

There is little technically, writing-wise, that I might offer to improve the piece. One correction on the melatonin, though, the standard dosage is 3 mg (milligrams), not 3 g.

Kindest regards,

Rick

[Dominique]

wow

[Jay Ligda]

What a powerful picture this paints for me. Feelings of sadness!

[Madeline Moore]

Legality vs Effectiveness....hmmmm....my merlot, is almost gone, I had better head for the liquor store!

[RachelleB]

I can definitely relate to this, and i have battled insomnia more than i care to think about. But I dont really like wine, and melatonin never worked that great for me...o well :)

Rachel

[Vanessa]

It sounds like the poet is vexed, very vexed, in the beginning.

Throughout the whole piece, the feel was strong. You did well at captivating readers and talking them in between the shadows of each letter.

Fantastic.
--Vanessa Alyse

[Siobhan]

The title caught my eye and so I read...I really like the fourth and fifth stanzas, especially "Half an hour in front of the alphabet/Fragmenting emotions into sentences/Takes the edge off the edge". I can relate to the insomnia and fragmentation so well...I'll read more, I'm certain.

[Black_Ink]

Real sense of panic and stress in this work that seems to loiter on the edge of violence. I suppose the drugs and the drink can take off the edge before the sun rises. Liked the layout and structure...

[Antonionioni]

Nice work Alex. I often use red wine, or beer, but other things can also work well. 'Friendly confrontation' is a good phrase that stuck in my mind.