Insomnia

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Insomnia

Lying awake
at two in the morning,

wondering
how a dog would suffer

sleeplessness –
silently, or with little

growls and snuffles,
scratching at its

padded bed
in exasperation,

circling, turning
back, again.

I roll to the left,
then to the right,

and flat on my back,
groaning at the pain

in my hip and the anger
of the day’s impending

bull on my shoulders,
and the looming

banshee cry
of that damned alarm.

50 thoughts on “Insomnia”

  4. Fantastic! Some nights are just like that.

    Your dog suggestions are pretty much what our Labrador does when she senses a human awake and tossing. She tosses along in her bed beside ours. And licks a paw or belly spot. I’ve wondered some nights if I’d doze off given a pacifier to slurp on. ??

    We banished the banshee a couple of years back, replacing with Ray Wylie Hubbard’s MESSENGER pulling us awake with “just wanna see what’s next”. Great wakeup motivation. But anything bears changing, and now we wake to Van Morrison leading INTO THE MYSTIC, pulling me along with “Come on girl!”.

    So … did you compose this poem in said restless hours?

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    • I don’t know how I survived so many years of such nights while working full-time. I’d be willing to try a pacifier. I’ve tried everything else…

      I’m usually awake before the alarm sounds, but even the thought of it is annoying. Hmm. Ray Wylie. I might wake to “Screw You, We’re from Texas” or even “Redneck Mother.” Ha!

      The idea for the poem popped out in the wee hours, but it was written in the shack during daylight.

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  8. I went to a psychologist to help solve my insomnia, among other perculiar problems I was experiencing. and her tactics seemed to work, and I’m sleeping for a reasonable amount of time. Hope you are betterer these days Robert.

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  9. warmth helps me. also counting in an ez pattern. I used to count backwards but only made me alert so I could focus on the counting. duh! 🙂 sometimes I take a muscle relaxer. other times I get up and write something mean and then I feel relaxed after venting some tension. that would explain all the garbage on my blog, haha. 🙂

    complex carbs also relax. avoid sugar; that will make you energized.

    have u tried tightening/relaxing your muscles, starting from toes upward. eventually your brain will relax too.

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  10. Pingback: Poetry - Insomnia - Online Marketing Scoops

  23. Well this is creepy, but I just listened to this program on past lives and the lecturer mentioned that if you tend to wake up at a certain time each night that you may very well have died at that time in a past life. I know, odd…yet interesting, as well. Something to mull over…

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