Nod Off Poems

Web

such artistry, tied to two trees
background of a neighbor’s house
which one is mere majestic
you’d say unhesitatingly, the web
but did you know my neighbor

they shingled and painted
their whole house themselves
it was something else

you’d look at it and think
it’s boring brown, but
I see deeper into their lot

the spider’d disagree
my analysis is persistently
annoying because her web
appears as a soccer net

or football for those nuts
in the UK - don’t disparage
you say - but they are nuts
for football, aren’t they

the world wide web would AI
something achingly intricate
but it needs to mind its own
because we all find in small things
something quite beautiful

case in point, fireworks I couldn’t see
but I could hear the one’s next door
as I sat outdoors (and the only time
this year) I saw, lit up like a gathering
of fairies, in my little woods, fireflies

don’t argue, just nod, nod off
and be human instead

My Uncle the Novelist

I am a writer, a novelist, my book could be a best seller he says.
I nod my head, wanting to encourage my uncle, who rarely is this confident.
He looks up and asks me to spell two words. I do.
He seems pleased, boasts a bit more about his novel, then falls asleep.

He has been bragging about his novel for years, this is his first sentence.
I look at it when he puts his glasses down and begins to nod off.
It was a dark and stormy night, he has written.
Great start!

It was the best of times, the worst of times.
I hear him snoring. He is worn out.
Did he finally write something? My aunt asks. I nod.
It has taken him eighty years, she tells me.

I know this, but he has started now.
We will  encourage his efforts.
Because we both love our aspiring novelist.
A man with dementia who has a dream.

Vices

The refrigerator door opens,
the light illuminates the wine.
Still we just can’t seem to comprehend,
why we feel like crap all the time.

Don’t speak before our morning coffee,
just one more menthol cigarette.
Half a dozen donuts for breakfast, 
and all the sugar we can get.

But we go to church every Sunday,
though we might nod off cause we’re bored.
So we can tell folks we’re Christians,
and follow the words of our Lord.

We can interpret the Bible,
make it say what we want it to.
Does it say always love your neighbor,
long as they think the same as you.

Naps

"If I could nap as peacefully as my cat, that would be amazing." From "Love to Know"

Never do I sleep like
Normal folks. Even at 
Night, pills keep me asleep!
Not listless, I still think
Nice it would be to just
Nod off when I wanted,
Navigating day – dreams.

Without Wars

The world is far from being a perfect place
Pretty sure that's a well known fact
If so, world peace would be the name of the game
Instead of killing and unprovoked attacks

It's hard to imagine what that would be like
It hasn't ever happened before
It sure would take a whole lot of getting used to
So foreign, a world without wars

What would we do with our war machines
Dismantle them and sell them for scrap
With no further wars, countries aligned as one
No need for any of that crap

Is this old guy dreaming, did I nod off for a while
Better belt myself on the noggin
If I happen to survive for another hundred years
More likely to see ghosts and goblins

Write of Love

Inspired by those separated by WWII, their sacrifice, and the brothers and sisters who are now joining those they lost so young...and, this day in the Ukraine once again...

I never thought I'd miss the clickety-clack;
like a tap dancing minstrel - hour on hour
the carriage would slide,
only to pause for a cigarette and more
      thoughtful inspiration.
As smoke ribboned, you would write again
in its foggy veil, and I would nod off
leaving you - a misty aberration.
I cherish that now...and the earring
in my breast pocket, golden, like my memories
and my promise to return it to you
will be kept, no matter...
Your novels used to be of love,
of plane tickets to romantic beaches,
instead, you write now of beaches
where soldiers die and lovers cry.
My strength lies in your embrace
and thoughts that still hold you.
Be safe, and write of love once more.

(A fictional letter from "Harm's Way")

Nap Time

Well how about that, it's nap time again
It's three o'clock in the afternoon
Us old guys don't have a say in the matter
When it's time it's the same old tune

We nod off while watching Oprah Winfrey
Then wake up and curse at the world
Really wanted to see her special guest today
Got angry and my pillow I hurled

My old age is finally catching up with me
Once was filled with vigour and vim
To bend over and tie my shoe laces now
The result is really quite grim

And so it goes, with this getting old thing
Time marches forward relentlessly
Used to be able to sleep through the night
Now I toss and turn restlessly

Which means I catch up in the daylight hours
Matters not what I'm doing at the time
When the clock on the wall cries out three PM
It's onto the couch I climb

A Box of Sky

I collected a handful of stars and moon
And put it into a box 
The sky has come along with it 
And is living inside my head
I peep every night under my bed to see
The Box has gone out of sight
I look up into the night
And there I see it back in place 
The stars and the moon 
And also a piece of Sky
The moon now smiling down at me
As I nod off counting the stars
I wake up to a brand new day
And take a quick look under my bed
The box is there the sky moon and stars
Are tucked away deep inside my head
As night comes the stars
will ride with me on sky
As they have promised 
and journey me to the moon.

17.08.2020.

Imperceptible

Come Dusk, Sol sinks into the pitch of Night,
till crickets drown out bellowing bullfrogs.
The sun bleeds, inking Night with blood-red light;
while woodpeckers drum on hollowed-out logs.

Splintered silhouettes silently conjoin;
flowing into ebon pools of twilight.
The sun gilds the moon, one side of the coin;
golden spheres, fueling life with their light.

Ebony cushions the whole universe,
encrusted with billions of twinkling gems.
Splendiferous pink-colored clouds disperse;
while flowers nod off, snoozing on their stems.

Tethered to time's imperceptible string,
we're somehow connected to everything.

Insomniac

Night’s restless rodent,

                                    I just nod off all day long.

                                           I am nocturnal.

Senescence

Just having passed another year
In quiet celebration
I was reflecting on my journey here
Feeling still quite young
Yet remembering
What a friend just had said     that we 
Are now senescence

This comment startled me
Into thinking of where I am and where
I am going next
How many good years,   are there
For me to really enjoy
Fifteen is my guess with more 
That will be an unknown chore

So little but so many
How does that compare with the first
If I act now like I’m fifteen
I would love passionately     with you
Start a new first job
Lay around in a bikini in my backyard
As the years go back,      I would

Do less and less
Enjoy playing more with make believe
Make cookies and eat the dough
Have books read to me
Swing in a tree for hours,   daydreaming
Wish upon the moon and stars 
For a peaceful night

Until I just sit in a chair in a sunny spot
Stare out the window
Nod off to sleep
Then nibble on peanut butter
Licking my spoon contentedly,     still
I would want to see you again
And dream of my days beside the sea


written 6-13-2020

Renascence

Renascence

To nod off
gently by the 
suns kiss

that trickles down
my face and my smile
and perchance

to blend
a hue of
colors

and my mind 
is grasping
no longer dormant

I’m awake and feeling
the
seizing of the day!

Pick -A-Title, Vol. 17-Yalto- Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
May 13, 2020

Some Temples

Some temples are cluttered.
Everywhere there are
wrathful-playful-sexual-vengeful-
gesturing-carousing-beckoning-
ascending-descending-riding-
weeping-flying-singing,
or just sitting around
   Gods.

The congregation ride luggage carts 
in the dead of night,
sing drunkenly, slam doors, 
or watch HBO with the volume way up,

That was a hotel in Muncie Indiana.
A temple I shared with a rumba dancing Shiva 
and a bottle of Jim Beam
but the vibe was the same.

When I finally nod off, I dream of wearing
Day-Glo Speedos
in an elevator
while
reading
the Kama Sutra.

One level up,
the Tallahassee chapter of the honorable order of Shriners,
surrounds me with their juiced-up joie de vivre.

I rise with them to the seventh floor
where at last I find
my omnipresent self.

My Muse Is a Fair-Weather Friend

When the temperature soars
   My Muse is cranky and cross
Whether in or out of doors
   Meter and rhyme are quite lost

My head heavy, I'm bored
   Sweat pours off my chin
Hunched over the keyboard
   What a funk I am in

To slumber I yield
   I nod off for a bit
My fate surely sealed
   Poetry, I quit...

Yet switch on the a/c
   And, voile! A new me!
To the delight of my Muse --
   Cool air lights her fuse!

Count Your Blessings, Fellow Insomniacs

How easily we nod off at dawn
                      
                       ~ though we can't a wink sleep all night

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