Musings by The Poet Loriet
Midnight Madness
Squatting on bent legs
frozen as a rock lobster,
he screamed a scream
so terrifying that
the hairs on my arms
prickled and stood on end.
"What is it, honey?"
I jumped up alarmed
trying to rub the sleep
out of unfocused eyes.
He turned to me with
the psychotic look I
had come to know, yet
his terror was real.
Sobs shook his body.
"The baby's falling down
that black hole in our wall.
I can't reach her.
Oh God, Lori, I can't
reach her. I'm so sorry."
He clawed at the walls
until his knuckles bled.
The familiar terror of
a trapped animal haunted
his wild eyes and he
ran in circles screaming,
staring down the hole
which was so real to him.
I talked slowly, calmly,
tried to tell him there
was no hole there.
Sometimes it worked.
Sometimes it didn't,
only made him more anxious
and he threatened me,
became violent.
Sometimes I left the room,
scared he'd hurt me,
tried to drown out the screams,
prayed the kids didn't hear.
Night terrors.
Sleep-walking.
Hypnogogic hallucinations.
He threatened me,
pulled over furniture
with surreal strength.
In the morning,
he remembered nothing.
My recollections
shook him, he was scared
that one of these nights,
he would kill me,
not meaning to...
Once upon a dream.
Lori Beal
frozen as a rock lobster,
he screamed a scream
so terrifying that
the hairs on my arms
prickled and stood on end.
"What is it, honey?"
I jumped up alarmed
trying to rub the sleep
out of unfocused eyes.
He turned to me with
the psychotic look I
had come to know, yet
his terror was real.
Sobs shook his body.
"The baby's falling down
that black hole in our wall.
I can't reach her.
Oh God, Lori, I can't
reach her. I'm so sorry."
He clawed at the walls
until his knuckles bled.
The familiar terror of
a trapped animal haunted
his wild eyes and he
ran in circles screaming,
staring down the hole
which was so real to him.
I talked slowly, calmly,
tried to tell him there
was no hole there.
Sometimes it worked.
Sometimes it didn't,
only made him more anxious
and he threatened me,
became violent.
Sometimes I left the room,
scared he'd hurt me,
tried to drown out the screams,
prayed the kids didn't hear.
Night terrors.
Sleep-walking.
Hypnogogic hallucinations.
He threatened me,
pulled over furniture
with surreal strength.
In the morning,
he remembered nothing.
My recollections
shook him, he was scared
that one of these nights,
he would kill me,
not meaning to...
Once upon a dream.
Lori Beal
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Midnight Madness
Midnight Madness
