What Insomnia Conjures

What Insomnia Conjures

Ongoing sleep disorders
pluck the memories;
dilutes judgments.
the email from the publisher smashes my head:
“Although your book is written deftly and engagingly,
we can’t accept your book because
it has already been published elsewhere.”

Alas, I’ve forgotten about the poetry collection that
I had sent to the publisher six months before,
and self-published it at Amazon.

“If you have a manuscript that has not yet been published,
I want to see it,” she says.
O, yes, I will. I hurry to pick up poems from the old pile;
it takes time; editing; proofreading, etc.

Try to forget the unlucky collection; despite its beauty,
it is destined to be buried in a dump, unless…
I’ll pick it up, in my bosom, give it a warm bath, and
dress it in wonderful words before sending it to
a contest judge? Or, else.

©Byung A. Fallgren

In Reading & Writing at 3 AM

In Reading & Writing at 3 AM

Hearing him babble in my
half-asleep: "Out of pay the bill."
What does it mean?
The face of the young man appears
in my head: the young plumber with a smiley face.
Of course, we'll pay when he sends the bill.
What does it have to do with you?

Are you implying that he is you? you
the usual demon-lazy ghost?
You are using the hard-working man to disguise you.
Not too bad. If that is your wish, wish means:
you wish you were him, not a demon-lazy ghost.
To encourage you to morph, even a bit of fragrance,
I will give you some, not much.

I must add: I cannot afford your demand:
I am frugal to the bone and soul.

©Byung A. Fallgren

Hope

Hope 
Clara Ann Thompson, 1869--1949

The saddest day will have an eve,
The darkest night, a morn;
Think not, when clouds are thick and dark,
Thy way is too forlorn.

For ev'ry cloud that e'er did rise,
To shade my life's bright way,
And ev'ry weary day,

Will bring three gifts, though'lt value more,
Because they cast so dear;
The soul that faints not in the storm,
Emerges bright and clear.

Thompson was born a poet, teacher, and
civil rights advocate.