melissaahowells - Wishing Them Onto Better Days

at night
when I'm supposed to sleep
I write
and paint
and draw my breath
into little clouds
I can see before my eyes

proof positive I'm alive
like a tiny self-contained molecule
in a deep dark sea of gathering black

the night has unusual magic
that daylight often lacks
and sometimes there are visitors
who come not in normal shape and form

memories or vestiges
of something before
that trick your ears
and fool your eyes
and sharpen all your senses
digging your toes into the carpet
as preparation for
an unwanted surprise

when you live where I live
sometime its the last place
where some people come to die
but this won't be my place
but it has been that place
for those who were not eady

last night
I heard her laughter
like perpetual motion
a loop in a film
an odd non-rhythm
sounding the same each time
yet never moving on
it was as if
she wanted me
to herself
for her audience
a spirit box speaking

perhaps she was
the lady across the hall
the one who stopped eating
and didn't answer the door
until they found her sleeping forever
tucked into one threadbare blanket

in the hall
there's a carpet stain that's
covered with newer carpet
but remains noticeable forever

how these sounds and feelings
bounce off the hallways then
seem to close in

when the weather's wild and cold
and I'm sequestered inside
the wet weather
and the plague
of fears making it not as safe

tbags fall all at once
off the top of the refrigerator

there's one dancing dark shadow
rounding the bend of my eyes
there's the padding of feet that stops
at three o-clock in the morning
just outside my door
unfathomable whispers
as I tell them to
go to the light
with a smudge of smoke and
blessings and
precious protective
salt

I know
they know
I sense them
I'm their invitation to call

no use
explaining to
the non-believers
about how I
hear/see,\/feel
signs others fail to see at all

I'd like to turn it down
or turn it off
but there's no switch
no cord to yank
being outdoors
is the only thing
which brings me relief

the wind clears the air
and lightens my halting steps
I'd like to walk away
most days

I will tell you
there are other things
in this world
invisible
who like to prey and stalk

so I protect myself
don't acknowledge them
wishing them safe journey

and then
I think they get bored...
find someone else
to notice them
wishing them
onto better days.

you can take this or leave this...what is fiction and what is fact and
real experience...i believe in the willing suspension of belief and giving
the person who is the experiencer the benefit of the doubt.
I'LL LEAVE IT UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHAT'S REAL AND WHAT CAN BE EXPERIENCED.....

LEGAL COPYRIGHT FOR THIS POEM 4:30PM PST 10/26/2021 TIME AND DATE STAMPED
AND WRITTEN DIRECTLY TO THE PAGE
AND ALSO FOR THIS WRITER/POET MELISSA A. HOWELLS
AND ALSO FOR THIS LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED AND REGISTERED SITE TITLE
MELOO STRAIGHT FROM HER TILT-A-WORLD

RE-EDITED 10:37AM OCTOBER 27, 2021 BY MELISSA A HOWELLS THE AUTHOR.