insomnia

a poem

insomnia

it’s just dark enough —
patterns and dimension,
mingle with the space 
between me and the wall.

i can feel the faint air 
in the retreating of the walls,
twisting and evolving the black,
not to the calm of the shallows—
but a deepening darkness that rips
sight from socket,
a vacuumed void 
and i’m laid bare upon it.

not the common dark that most fear,
but the jarring of a bright white room
suddenly stripped of light.
my jaw clenched tight.
the ringing of my ears.
against the numbing of the night.

my eyes burning dry beneath their lids
from day, to night, to day again;
my wakefulness is stretched
beyond biology —
on an inescapable medieval rack. 

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Thank you for reading this collaborative poem 🖤

The Quiet Hour Poet & Em