Question:

Do you suffer from insomnia?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

Hamsun's Hunger and The Rest

At night it’s

usually Bukowski, maybe

something from the local

editorial section

but lately I can’t seem to shake

Hamsun’s Inger, the harelip,

the dead baby

the n**i threat that never

quite made sense

to me, the fear of Hunger

the want to write

my own

fears, and Charles

says sure and sure

And they all speak of madness

And bluebirds

And madness again

and I roll over and

MAD magazine

Seems like a good idea gone

bad, and I dream of Inger

with a million

dead babies

and

a perfect set

of lips,

and morning finally

comes, alone,

and weary.

 Tags:

   Report

27 ANSWERS


  1. Nice poem..Yes i have bouts of it as well. I go to sleep but i wake up not able to fall back to sleep. The wheels in my brain start turning and i cant turn them off.


  2. Where'er you find "the cooling western breeze,"

    In the next line, it "whispers through the trees",

    If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep,"

    The reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep";

    [Alexander Pope]

    I don't see how even the most heavyweight insomnia could survive a poem such as yours.

  3. Thanx for sharing...was good to read!...and yeah i suffer from Insomnia.

  4. I did last night.  d**n it sucks.

  5. Nice!  Yes I'm a part time insomniac, but luckily I don't have all the nightmares you mention  : )

  6. only before an exam

  7. I think all writers suffer from a little fear of madness,

    and from the insomnia of a racing mind..

    you will write of you own fears...alas...in this you have begun.

    You may be weary,

    but you are hardly alone, my son.

    Alone only within that brilliant mind of yours.

    Your answers so far show the depth of emotions this poem evoked...

    like using a stick of dynamite to fish in a lake...

    toss it in and BOOM!!!!

    MA

  8. Most the time I do not. I was awake the other night because I drank too much tea probably.  

  9. Very Deep soul searching words.Yes! Sleep eludes me.

    Sleep eludes me, I arise

    To where a strange sight meets my eyes

    My bicycle with twisted pedal

    Central spike without a saddle

    Stands now with perfect form

    Who had come to fix my bike?

    Their secret deeds are so much like

    A story by those brothers Grimm

    And there’s one thing I can say of them

    They’re nicer than the rogue called Aesop

    Aesop? Oh yes, you’ll remember that he said …

    There was a son who came to grief

    For he became a rotten thief

    At the gallows, he called “mother dear”

    Then he bit off the old girl’s dear

    Yes, Aesop was a strange one

    Very strange … nice story for the children …

    That set my thoughts to swim

    And you could say that of him

    He couldn’t be a DIsney writer

    And his stories don’t get any lighter

    When you grow up and find them once again

    But let’s forget those earless mothers

    And get back to the German brothers

    Fascinating in themselves

    But more so when they wrote of elves

    And the old shoemaker

    Perhaps it was the elves who came

    And fixed my bike up as a game

    And cheered me up when I’d awoken

    From a sleep so truly broken

    By dark nightmare

    Yes, my centipede illusion

    Came again as night intrusion

    When I should be deep in sleep

    Out of darkness, they do creep

    Out of world and mind

    They wake me often in the night

    Send me searching for their bite

    Making me sit up bolt straight

    Four, five, six, seven, eight

    Times or more

    Go forth and multiply, said God

    And they did, one by one, they trod

    Out where each one breeds

    Till the whole world is full of centipedes

    And the people, they did cry

    … when they saw these fearsome things emerging from the weeds

    … for these were not your ordinary garden centipedes

    No, they were a foot or more in length

    And even when they’re rent

    In two or three or five

    Each part is still alive

    Moving on

    Wriggling blindly

    Don’t let them find me

    What generates such disgust

    About these creatures in the dust

    As I cower in the corner with my spray

    A horror script by Stephen King

    With characters like these would bring

    Rejection slips, “It’s unconvincing”,

    But they don’t know what sets us wincing

    Deep in the night when all is real

    And when they bite

    It’s only right

    That I should smite them down

    Oh God, I love that word, smite,

    Oh yes, I am God

    As I spare not the rod

    And yet spoil the beasts

    Now where are the elves, I wonder

    As centipedes come asunder

    Underneath my withering attack

    Will the elves ever come back

    To help me out again

    No, alone I fight and thrash the air

    Against a foe, is it really there

    Taking all this life like God

    And then I see they are not shod

    Not a shoe between them all

    Where are your little shoes, I say

    To a centipede that I would slay

    But his speech was quite impeded

    That happens when you’re centipeded

    Yet he breaks out in song

    [In Song]

    Heigh ho, heigh ho, heigh hoo,

    I haven’t got a single shoe

    I bite, I eat

    I have a million feet

    But I haven’t got a single shoe

    Oh what can I do

    I haven’t got a single shoe

    Oh dear I said, that’s no use

    Why don’t we call a little truce

    And think a while on what to do

    For who is happy with no shoe?

    Then I recalled …

    Did I mention I am God divine

    Just for the few short minutes of this rhyme

    So I can do most anything

    And I’m most impressed that you can sing

    Though you’re a little out of tune

    I’m too tired to do the job myself

    So I guess I’ll whistle for an elf

    He can dolly up some pairs of shoes

    End your centipedal blues

    And we can have some peace

    Me being Irish, I’ve never seen an elf

    From beyond the continental shelf

    Down in Germany or maybe Spain

    But I gave a whistle all the same

    And then I see

    Not the elves, but the fairies come

    Wearing tight black leather on their bum

    Two by two, married leprauchauns

    A host of Marys who were once called Seans

    Well, I as God don’t mind, and why should you?

    The fairies start to make the shoes

    And centipedes come round to choose

    Then they walk off in the distance

    Agreed on happy co-existence

    We say goodbye

    And so…

    I give up the role of God

    Laugh at myself with wink and nod

    No more nonsense for my head

    I turn out the light and go to bed

    Where I sleep

    Goodnight Buk.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  10. you scared me awake

  11. Ahhh, Bukowski and his beer farts.  

    Yes, I DO suffer from insomnia.  It's because I am a dyslexic existentialist that stays up all night wondering if DOG exists.

  12. HA! I knoew I was going to see 'deepness' sometime today. And yeah I do suffer from insomnia. Caused by worry or by pain. Whichever decides to keep me awake that night determines the thoughts I have as I struggle to divert them.

    But never have fretted over a hare lip..yet. Hope now that I have these images in my head, I still won't.

    sheesh.

  13. This poem is much more in depth. You have a very creative mind..very imaginative....very eloquent in your words...written to hit home...and words pack power written in the formation you submitted.You my dear man have a heart of gold.

  14. More like dementia !

  15. *jaw drops in amazement at the magnitude of what was written*

    Answer: Sometimes


  16. Awesome verse...

    I'm impressed...

  17. I have some insomnia issues,partial sleep nights,twilight sleep,and rarely remember dreams or nightmares.Some days I have to nap a while.

  18. Insomnia, yes! Suffer, no! (good piece of poetry, that one!)

  19. no...i don't

  20. no...im usually asleep when i hit the pillow :)

  21. that is so moving ... it bring tears to my eyes.

  22. Hhhmmm....let me sleep on this....

  23. i won't be sleeping again....

  24. if I was dreaming of a million dead babies I would have insomnia too! I have work induced insomnia. It is cause by working 3 mindnights, one day and on afternoon/evening shift..... Maybe I should join up over here and start writing poems about it ;D

  25. Yes, I do.

    Can paranoia be counted in as well...?

    Edit: I just noticed this is under Poetry. Anyway, cleverly written, Buk. Is 'clever' a poem word?

  26. I do have insomnia, but not the visions you describe, but the weariness, that i do feel. :(

    Powerful words as i drink my first cuppa this morning

  27. I only hope you don't imply that I should... enjoy it and not suffer from it!  :)

    edit : wow!!  I just noticed this is Poetry category!!  I blush now....

    I should have answered in some other way....   Anyway....

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 27 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.
Unanswered Questions