Monday, October 23, 2017

Interruptus



image from inspirationseek.com


Interruptus

“The creak of bed springs suffering under the
weight of a restless man is as lonely a sound 
as I know”--Patrick deWitt.

Things that go creak
in the night,
like
loose gates,
cranky screen doors,
hardwood floors,
broken shingles,
and misaligned aging bones--

all can wake you,
or color your dreams,
forcing you to swim
up from the maelstrom 
of slumber to guppy-gulp

at consciousness.


Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub

17 comments:

brudberg said...

I don't like to wake up in the night.. especially not the creaks of self

Anonymous said...

A wondrous compilation of sleep depravity's grasp.

paul mortimer said...

Oh tell me about the creaky bones! Great point of unique focus there alongside the usual creaks.

tonispencer said...

And this is why I am an insomniac...the alightest noise awakens me. But in this house, not many noises, mainly the sound of the wind outside or rain. I liked this foray into insomnia a lot.

Kim M. Russell said...

Oh, I know the feeling, Glenn. It's a job just to turn over some nights, and it doesn't help with cats lying on my hip or tucked behind my knees.

lillianthehomepoet.wordpress.com said...

Hah! "misaligned aging bones"....yep -- in weekly physical therapy these days for just that! And then this
"guppy-gulp
at consciousness."
Lovin' your take on this one, Glenn. And the quotation you lead with is priceless :)

Grace said...

Hate it when I wake up to "imagined creakings" around the house ~ Hard to go back to sleep afterwards, yikes ~

Frank Hubeny said...

Even aging bones can wake one in the night.

Alison H said...

The end is splendiferous- forcing you to swim
up from the maelstrom
of slumber to guppy-gulp
at consciousness.
Those moments where reality darkness and dreams all mingle into one...

Jane Dougherty said...

So many things break into sleep. I hear the mice fart.

Vivian Zems said...

As one of our poets said, creaks speak louder than words. I think popping joints are the worst.

indybev said...


This is absolutely prime! You are such a clever wordsmith!

Truedessa said...

I sometimes wake to creaking sounds. It sounds like someone is walking in the hall, but when I get up to investigate all is quiet, until I get back in bed. Finally, I just say "have fun in the hall, I'm going to sleep"

Maria said...

Who dares to spoil our sleep? I try to ignore mine, if I can. Haha.

Mish said...


"All can wake you or color your dreams"
These lines really stood out to me, the contrast and perhaps perspectives.

Mish said...


"All can wake you or color your dreams"
These lines really stood out to me, the contrast and perhaps perspectives.

Amaya said...

Guppy-gulp is a great way of putting it!