This voice screams
Silently in my head
And it seems
I must ignore the dread
Pressing against the seams
Like 1000 pounds of lead
Poisoning my dreams
As I lay awake in bed
Silencing the screams
Ringing in my head

In the dead of night
eyes are naught but blinking.
Fatigue stands idle, unmoving
yet the mind drifts, tethered to the ceiling.

Shadows writhe and slither
murmuring tales of unrest.
Ticking gears—a steady rhythm
mocking the silence in me.

Dreams flickering in and out
my goal under a cruel tease.
The mind under a riptide sea
churning and rolling in its depths.

Amidst this quiet chaos
finally, fragility settles.
Unbound solace pouring
beneath the moon's timeless gaze.

three days running
(body’s unraveling
the threads of itself
loose stitches yawning wide—)
but my mind
(my manic, my impossible mind)
spins
and spins
and
spins

the ceiling
a vast white ocean
of thoughts unswallowed
while gravity forgets me,
floating on this frantic tide of
(silence?) no,
the hum of all the hours
I should have slept.

oh how cruelly awake,
how absurdly alive,
to feel this lightbulb brain
(scorched, buzzing)
while my knees buckle under the weight
of their own existence.

there will be collapse.
(there will always be collapse.)
but for now,
this manic orchestra
plays on,
its violins tuned to the scream
of a body desperate for dark,
its brass blaring a melody
only the sleepless can hear.

Endless night, no rest,
Silent screams within the dark,
Mind adrift, alone.

Insomnia is a thief that steals my sleep
The hours and minutes tick by, an agonizing reminder that sleep won't come
Like the ouroboros, my quest for sleep consumes me
Insomnia traps my mind in a restless cage
The moon never sets in my mind, an eternal sunny day mocking me
Like the ouroboros, my struggle for sleep loops back on itself
Insomnia places me in a dark maze without escape
The hours I spend awake feel like an eternal road with no start or end
Like the ouroboros, we both devour ourselves endlessly in our despair
Insomnia keeps my mind turning over and over, and I never settle into sleep

the windows are shut
the blinds are drawn
the door is locked
the lights are out
but the house is awake

the floorboards ripple
the walls squirm
the ceiling shakes with nervous energy
the doorways twitch

night has fallen
the people inside are fast asleep
but the house is awake

i write my comfort wearily at night
the gooseflesh brought upon my skin by cold
a broken screen, the splintering of glass
all held together by a feeble glue

i find it easy to forget my place
within the realm of things that really are
at midnight, maybe past an hour or three,
when white noise drones within my empty skull

they ache, my eyes, and tether me to earth
one second gone consumes the midnight whole
the crowbar glow is wedged between the lids
the fading world resigns to pure mirage

in hours' time, the cycle will repeat
my sense of who i am will surely ebb

I wish for a peace of mind
Away from the voices
Haunting me all the time
I close my eyes as they get louder
Hoping the darkness will wash them away
Instead pictures ignite, keeping me at bay
I realize there’s no escape
To free me from this cage
I wait till sleep comes to drift me away
From the words and images of the demons keeping me awake