Insomnia

While I sleep, they're cows and elephants
Unnamed moving shapes, while I'm awake
Fear streaks yellow against the gray in my head
I wonder, is being awake the prelude to being dead?

Shadows surge, they merge and they grow,
Unnamed fears — possibilities of dreams —
Jostle for the space that keeps me awake
How many more mistakes will i make?

Sleep, once an unwelcome friend, now avoids me
The disdain of the healthy for the ill
I crave sleep. Yearn. Seek it desperately
Some help, some sleep must come calling, eventually?

Wandering, Wondering

Headlights reflect from far away
Pretending to be the sun
On a landscape punctuated
with green, brown and ugly white
Dickinsonian factories silhouette the sky
'Neath the morning's smouldering smog
Even neon lights cannot transform
A sweat shop into paradise

The Legend of Ulibak

She floated down the wave of consciousness
Barely aware of the blue tuna riding the microwave
Or the earthworm that glowed brighter than usual
Slipping, sliding, through the earthworm hole
She knew not where she was going, or why
Till she bumped her head against a talking mirror
And a laughing tree brought her to a stop

***

Suddenly it was clear; she knew that she would be
Ulibak, the greatest heroine, the Bakulis ever did see
Doodlebong supported her, even if he fell off the tree
A thought wave then hit her, Ms Yancha was near

So donning her cape of varying colors, she looked up at the sky,
Shook her fist at Lord Ne’erdonot, as nearer she did fly
She saw the sky turn dark, and loudly she did cry
“Oh! No, you don’t! Not another black sky!”

It wasn’t that her mind was fallow,
But there’s only so many holidays one can swallow
So she raced to the Lord in her wheel-barrow
She flew past, like there was no tomorrow

Sometimes, she wished she’d had a choo-choo
But, what kind of hero, would her gifts eschew?
Aurria flew by, singing like a great cuckoo
While Rubsh kept wondering, “What was I gonna do?”

Uli wanted to travel, to take an extended holiday
But there was so much work that she had to stay
She went back home with much dismay,
And thanked the Lord for his fish fillet!

Lunar eclipse

She played hide and seek with the clouds,
Till she grew tired of the game,
Yet, the darkness kept growing,
Slowly, steadily
Till she could be seen no more.

Her radiance diminished, she stood still,
Despite the baying dogs
And the bats — their velvety wings
flapping black against a black sky
For a moment, the world went dark.

Then, with a flash, the shadows peeled back
The dogs fell quiet, the bats stayed still.
As her brilliant radiance lit up the night
We'd known she'd be back.
She knew she'd never left.

Pic credit: Mickie Mueller