Tuesday, August 5, 2014

grimace of my moon


the moon grimaces watching over me
for three nocturnal days now
seemingly it knows of my tossing and turning,
whilst my eyelids closed, that my dreams
are fraught with tales of angst and fear
as my jaw is locked, my hands clenched in fists,
my legs rise up and down like torrent waves
in ocean storms and tears roll down my face

my soul, recently, has been battling with thoughts,
with memories, of my life's past, where I have
walked away from mother’s crying and a child
abandoned on the dirt and mud streets of a
foreign land as bright red blood runs through it
and me holding a rifle in my hand

i can feel the grinding of my teeth, the
sweat run down my face but in the color red
as if wearing a crown of thorns placed upon
my head and the burdens of pain and anguish
resting on my shoulders as I lay here, nails through
my hands onto the bed while the wrestling of my legs,
raising of my chest and head unable to rise
from this supine place as the weight of demons
atop too great

suddenly my eyelids fling wide open and they’re
engulfed in the dark but I can see a grimacing moon
staring down at me with the sound and thumping of
‘a tell tale heart’ . thrice now in a fortnight
i’ve awaken in this way and my pillow is wet
with sweat and tears and the bed sheets rung in
the same. so I no longer can lay down to sleep
but on my recliner in an upright seat   

12 comments:

  1. I resonate with how our thoughts and memories go back these days....and how easily tears flow for all the losses, all the leavings, all the pain. This poem could have been written by a soldier suffering from post traumatic stress. Then again, we are all really soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress, are we not, my friend? This is a powerfully moving poem.

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  2. Oh! What the moon knows of night's secrets! Few have the telltale heart keeping them in the grip of conscience. That Poe allusion speaks of a human who knows war condones murder, who isn't as brain-washed as the military assumes--as I have assumed--erroneously. Thank you for this poem which shows Hiroshima from the other side.

    I pray the torture is not yours, that writing poems like this offers a kind of redemption. There is a group of Warrior Writers in Philly and elsewhere making huge headway in this, a resource for me and for many--veterans or not: http://www.warriorwriters.org/home.html

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  3. The moon and bed should always be a friend...but those terrors are so very real...i hear that...things shift...however stuck it feels

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  4. to the sufferers this world is a nightmare...piercing lines...

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  5. and the burdens of pain - the powerful words and strong message, great emotion in this.

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  6. ah! the anxiety of a soldier so well portrayed! how horrifying would it be to be in a war! to see cities being trashed like paper mugs,,,, this poem was so painful and heart wrenching... i just hope its imaginative and not really true... no one should have to go through so much pain!! yet people did and still do!!

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  7. Marcoantonio, I enjoyed your poem very much as it was sorta similar in some way to Poe's works. And I couldn't help it but nod to myself thinking of not only those who were natives but for the soldiers as well. Both sides I'm sure there was pain and all sorts of mental and physical demons. Good job!

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  8. PTSD is a terrible thing. I recall reading that Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone, had PTSD after returning from World War II. His sleepless nights led to the creation of many stories, some of which became Twilight Zone episodes.
    You captured what it is to suffer this way very well.
    Thank you for visiting http://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com and for your kind comment on my memorial poem for my father.

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  9. The moon has seen alot of horrifying in her long life.
    Only the genre changes

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  10. It must be agony for someone to have those memories. The aspect of responsibility lies with all of us though, I think. And the moon sees it all.
    This is a touching, sensitive, sad write. So well done.

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  11. What a thing for the moon to see. Very good poem.

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  12. What an agony in the nighttime ~ My father sleeps the same way ~ I like how the moon is sympathetic to your nightmares ~

    I hope you feel much better my friend ~

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