maybe it was chimes i heard or someone playing
a glockenspiel. it made me jump. like it always
does. it could be the man coming down
my apartment hallway holding a gun. no,
that was a nightmare. it was a knife at my throat
and i was at work. he told me he was jesus.
i am okay now. it was long ago. but i jump,
again, because what is that sound? it could
be the circus i saw out the car window. remember
when the performers fell? all that blood. no,
that was a nightmare, too. it was my son
being hit by a car. the police knocking.
his face was the blood i saw. his hands.
but what is this sound? wind chimes?
neighbor’s music? my son’s tv? i walk
around the house and light candles
because you never can tell
what’s that sound.
*42/100: For the next 100 days, I’ll be writing and posting a poem every day.
**All photos are mine, taken with an Olympus E-M1 MarkII and edited with Lightroom Classic
Very nice.
Thank you 😊
Blimey I’d never sleep if I had nightmares like those 🙁 But yes, a simple sound, or smell, can trigger hidden memories. Well written.
I don’t have them as much as I used to, but I’m a very vivid dreamer. It can often be really upsetting. I never made the correlation to how some of these dreams are so like real world things until recently, but often dreamed before they happened. Like my dreams were preparing me…I don’t really believe that, but it’s an interesting thought.
I have a friend in Hawaii who interprets dreams – she has Native American skills. Interestingly she often sees positive and comforting things in dreams – often recurring – which you’d think would be upsetting. Dreams aren’t literal or necessarily worrisome (she says).
I need a friend like that.
Or you may find a thin place if you follow the sound and fall out of this sliver of the world. Shh… Is that voices like song you hear?
Mind the gap.
Perhaps I should lean in. Might be more fun than scary if I saw it as adventure calling.
It is a haunting poem. I am struck by how in a few lines it captures the way trauma obliterates the distance between memory, nightmare and the harmless present.
Thank you. I was struck by how these images lined up for me and how often I’m triggered by sound. I appreciate you reading all my poems. It’s really so kind.
Bridgette, this one is from deep down in your conscience, fear and love cross paths everyday, your discribtion I hope is only a nightmare scenario. We are all one step away from reality. Stay safe Regards to all 😊
Thank you. Some of these are nightmares, but some really happened. I’m a jumpy person, in general, but life has a way of sorting it out. This poem felt like an important one for me to write, weaving together how anxiety and reality have formed within me.