What is this?
this thrashing and turning
this hunger for an end
this thirst for peace and nothingness?

What is this staring?
this spot upon my lidded shades
this search for darkness
this looking into night
for a piece of blackness in shadow?

What is this quiet?
this rhythmic breath
this autonomic pull I count
this I seize and try to quell
and which will not stop?

What is this cocoon?
this shroud of fabric
this shackle of a sheet
this prison I’m taught within
the warm armour against the cold?

What is this fragrance?
this dinner woven into me
this unmapped scent
this something I cannot solve
moving on the syncopated fan?

What is this thought?
this fantasy I dream
this contemplated list
this thing I cannot remember
to forget to ask to do tomorrow?

What is this delirium?
this struggle against time
this place I am
where I’m not
is this the sleep
or do I think to keep
my eyes awake
closed –
or do I blink?

∞

Submitted as part of “National/Global Poetry Writing Month” (#NaPoWriMo #GloPoWriMo).
Today’s prompt:  write a poem that similarly resists closure by ending on a question, inviting the reader to continue the process of reading (and, in some ways, writing) the poem even after the poem ends.

30 Poems in 30 Days

All text and photography © Dale Schierbeck

…. more of my original Poetry on EatsWritesShoots here.