When Sleep Plays Hard to Get
From a promising first impression
to a string of false starts
It’s always a blind date
when sleep plays hard to get
When my mind is a bell
I hold the clapper
and match my breath
with the chant of mantra
While my thoughts wear a path
and count down to the future
They loom and persist
and lead to nowhere
Sometimes I play dead
or toss and turn the other cheek
where the grass is greener
and the sheep have been counted
When sleep is a flirt
that won’t commit
and my body is a burden
deprived of slumber
I drown myself
in the desire to go under
as I wait for sleep’s
sweet amnesia
____________Colleen Redman, a re-write / Poets and Storytellers United
September 23rd, 2022 2:41 am
Very well described! (But is there a mistake in the second-last line? A word left out between ‘i’ and ‘and’?)
September 23rd, 2022 7:02 am
I like the comparison of sleep to a flirt who won’t commit!!!!
September 23rd, 2022 9:06 am
Thanks Rosemary. I fixed that typo!
September 23rd, 2022 9:41 am
I wish I couldn’t relate. But sleep has been leading me on, too. And we can’t live without the elusive bastard, can we?
September 23rd, 2022 12:36 pm
I’d not considered sleep as a form of amnesia … when in fact it is! Insomnia is unhealthy, though at times unavoidable … wishing you sweet dreams.
September 23rd, 2022 1:06 pm
Helen, Funny how amnesia and insomnia rhyme and seem like words that are related, maybe in an inverted way.
September 23rd, 2022 2:52 pm
I can totally relate. Such an amazingly descriptive poem.
September 24th, 2022 9:50 pm
insomnia, although bad, never sounded so good.
September 25th, 2022 12:10 am
you have described insomnia so well. i really like how you said sleep is a flirt that won’t commit. 🙂
September 25th, 2022 3:05 pm
Maybe if I try holding up a boom box blasting something like claire d’lune to woo it that will work. Really fun piece on a very irksome and relatable problem.
September 25th, 2022 5:16 pm
I love “when sleep is a flirt” and “sweet amnesia.” Some lovely turns of phrase throughout this poem, Colleen 🙂
September 26th, 2022 8:03 pm
I had insomnia when I was a teenager. I’d sing “Downtown” or recite the order of thr U.S. presidents to get to sleep.