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

[Adam Greenfield]

Great color and imagery in this piece! Well thought out and perfectly placed language. Hell of a write, Alex.

[Buzzy]

Beautifully done.

[brad]

This is quite nice, I like it a lot.

[The Archangel Gabriel]

Well spoken. Sometimes, the comfort at the bottom of a bottle is all that life affords.

"Can't read, can't sit, can't stand to talk about it
There will be no sleep tonight"

I have had my fair share of those evenings. You have captured their essence well.

Fabulously penned.

-Gabe

[No One Important]

It is stirring and it resonates with me in a particular way...enjoyable from the first line

[Midnight Shadow]

This again, is deeply rich and intensely satisfying. You feel each stanza as you read it, coming off the page in subtle, transitory waves. Very nice indeed, my friend!

[Nykkiicia Cion]

Haven't we all felt like this to varying degrees? I think you've done well in capturing how writing...or any craft ur passionate about...can affect ur life, thoughts and actions. Good luck in the contest!

[Peaches]

I can relate to this poem, and found myself being drawn into what you were saying. The flow of this writing is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[Ani Ashford]

"So many people have so much power
Over my life
So many laws govern the edges
Of my insomnia"

This poem expresses so much of the frustrations that we allow to overcome our lives: the blare of the TV, insistent intrusions from beings, four footed and two legged, tugging at our pant leg. There is no space to find calm; we do not create a calm space, not even in our inner selves. Our homes are cluttered with demands, tasks, and then the outrageous 'b**b tube' with inane commercials telling us that we need this or that or some drug for some disease or condition that our docs should know about before we tell them.
Insecurities? Oh yeh! I liked the tempo and words you used. I bet your words echo almost every person trying to figure out how to stay employed if employed, how to stay married or get divorced, how to have courage or energy. Wow... perhaps I am reading too much into the words, but I have been there and done that! Thanks.