'Sleepwalker' - a Poem + Recording
pot of brown water on the dresser top.
lidded, the fact of it
as having been positioned there
insensibly
the interloper
one of us in sleepwalk
might have got away with, if not
for necessities of selling everything
at the commencement
of a moving cycle. aged like whisky
stains the floorboards, memorandum
dating back nineteen-oh-five
to when the walls went up, since then
the faces shuffling around them
oftentimes at night,
I will admit I changed the pillowcases
in the cryptic bedroom
though I don’t remember.
ghosts come on with sudden credibility
to squat in attic spaces,
rattle fixtures,
place a pot of water
on the dresser top
then fade away again,
or it was placed preemptively, before
the fact
and all this means is there was once
more people living here.
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Oh my! This is amazing! I have such a desire to hear poetic and creative writing spoken out, to hear how the words bounce round the room, in my head, how they activate stuff in me, like acupuncture.
This is yet another masterful piece of high Art. I admire your ability to structure the words, lines, and punctuation of a piece. Your work seems to air out in a soft and unusual way -- stark and yet lush.
Thank you so much - I'll admit I was a little nervous sharing the reading so it's great to hear it added to your experience! Glad you enjoyed it :)
I promised myself that during this week of vacation I'm not commenting on anything nor get involved in anything, but after reading this poem, I'm breaking the rule.
is one of the mysteries although exactly this image helped me to guess that the place is abandoned (running water wasn't in use since long ago). Why I think that our heroes came back to this place and not just came there for the first time: probably he was too young to remember anything. The whole "pot of water on the dresser top" remains a mystery to me.It's way too mysterious for me to solve though...
We see people coming back somewhere, they are bond by the events that took place here a long time ago.
Something happened here long ago, this is in the form of the piece, the line breaks make the word "fact" stand out (first there is a gap before "the fact" then there is one right after it) something that compelled people to leave the house. All these line breaks make the poem feel like glimpses little bits of memory coming back. And the title, that is inside of the poem as well, makes it feel like even something not happening in reality. The year of 1905 is an important one in history, but I'm not sure it was intended.
This is my first impression, Lazarus. I don't know if you planned to explain anything hence there is no need for asking )
And I enjoyed hearing your read! Nothing can be better than the author's read!
Thank you - glad the reading worked for you :) A lot of the references in this one are quite personal so I wouldn't expect it to make itself crystal clear, although hopefully the general sense of people moving to and fro, both in life, and out of life, came across. I think you've hit on a lot of key themes - bonding, and feelings of abandonment - although I don't want to reveal too much haha. Appreciate your dedicated reads!
Well ordered poetry. Takes the mind afar and brings it back to itself. Nice one.
Thank you friend!
This is just beautiful, Lazarus! I loved it, you're very creative. I keep wanting to quote favorite bits in this comment, but I can't choose, there are so many good lines, like
But really, it's just all so good.
Cheers! Too many to choose from - that really is my highest compliment haha. Thanks very much for the read.
Your voice is dope! Calming
Have you heard of dsound here on Steemit? Great place to share recordings :)