Charm Against Insomnia

Albrecht Durer

Charm Against Insomnia

Little mouse, little

gray hunger

that nibbles

the night to a bony

toothpick,

little possibility

of impossible things,

glimmer of nothing

like hope,

little shadow

that dreams,

small genius of bad teeth

and ice,

angel of wire,

of colic, of palsy-

thin kittens,

contain like a penny

or aspirin,

your acids and bitters;

cart off your coattails

those vulture-rich

contrails, your spidery

roses or doses

of splinters.

Bugger and sod off,

blister and suffer,

wither, fester lackluster,

besnuff, beshrivel,

becroak, benight,

belabor, bellbind, be gone!

Hailey Leithauser

from "Swoop"

 

Lack of sleep has been a topic around here lately. Leithauser’s image of insomnia as a little mouse that nibbles and nips away at our sleep is about as accurate as you can get. The idea that there might be a charm we could say to dispel insomnia is wonderful. L. manages to capture both the exasperation of not being able to sleep and the magic of words. I don’t know of any other poet who plays with words quite like she does – beshrivel?! It’s wonderful. This is a poem to be spoken out loud, to be savoured for sound. Possibly to be repeated in the dark, while staring at a ceiling and trying to get back to sleep.