Free Verse

A Sleepless Night

January 29, 2018

Fatigue and pain lure me to the bleached white hospital bed.

All of my joints creak like a rusty swing set,

I limp over, and throw myself on the bed.

I stare at the clock,

My mind says,

It’s much too early to sleep.

But my body disagrees.

This feud makes me lie still as a rock and stare up at the ceiling.

Hours pass, and the attending nurse comes to make her hourly rounds.

She rushes back out,

The door slams shut behind her with a bang.

I sit up, and push the blankets off of me,

Every part of my being is in flames.

I gently place my feet on the cold ground,

And push myself onto my feet.

I walk over to the window,

The buildings come alive,

The lights dance.

I stare down all 7 stories of the unfeeling building,

Drops of water flow from my eyes.

I clench the glass window with white knuckles.

I know I have to be strong,

Because being strong is my only choice I have,

If I have any chance of beating this into the ground;

And getting the life back that it stole from me.

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▾ This Poem's Voice

Deeply personal hospital experience, concrete autobiographical suffering and struggle.

Multiple ideas densely packed: fatigue, pain, mind-body conflict, despair, determination.

Predominantly negative (pain, fatigue, despair) with glimmers of resolve at end.

Intense physical sensations, violent imagery (flames, white knuckles), kinetic struggle throughout.

Approximately 26 lines; falls in 16-30 range.

Rich similes (swing set, rock), metaphors (feud, flames, stolen life), vivid imagery.

Pure lyric internal monologue; intimate first-person consciousness throughout.

▸ Artist Match

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