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

[Jacquie]

Excellent - brilliant use of language - the words created the tension that made me feel exactly...or almost exactly... what I felt last night! My choice? Definitley the wine.....

[Oz in Exile]

I can almost visualize this being read at a coffee house poetry reading - mic in hand as the words explode on the crowd - jazzing them up and they think it's only the caffeine but in fact it's your words buzz buzz buzzing through their blood streams. Strong work.

[Judith Gayle Nail]

Ahhhhhh...YES! I love it. (I have lived it!)

[BellaMac]

Great poem!!!

[jesthepoet]

You can really feel the anxiety in this poem. I like it! I can relate to it.

[Kris Tate]

Very powerful. The meter of the piece helps to see the stresses of everyday life adding up and causing that need to be relaxed and comfortable. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[James Takeo Panton]

I can definitely relate to what you have said here.....powerful in its feel......10/10....

[Crystal Mullings]

I appreciate the fact that I can relate to your poem. Its an open door to the downsides of life that we must face.

[TwiztidJewl]

This is really good. I like the details that you used. I like ^j^

--Abbie

[Lucinda Bogart]

Absolutely awesome.

It aptly
captures the restlessness
and downright dread
of life on the tread
mill.

Great Work !!