the nightwatchman holds steady while
everyone sleeps
stalwart through the hours
the dogs in the neighborhood
dreaming of chasing tails, cats, and squirrels
and guards the night’s secrets
all the pleasures of a night barely touched
by drowsy inhabitants
he roams freely and finds the remains of his soul
the particulates drifting off and away
during sunshine-filled days
with an aptitude for finding autumn sprites
that linger in the cool and damp
where the sultry fog meets mid-October
counting stars and watching the hours turn
always startled by first light
when it hits the windows across the street
and turns them to gold
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Love this
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THank you very much
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Most evocative
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Thank you so much
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Seems to be a happy accident of sleeplessness and somnabulance in a lot of poems I’m reading these days. (Happy for me, anyways, who gets to read them.) I loved hearing you read it — did you change some of the words as you were reading, instinctively, or were you reading an earlier/later draft?
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I was just really sleepy. Did I read it wrong? Maybe I should re-record it.
Thanks Jeff, I’m glad you enjoyed it–
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No, it sounded great! You read your work quite well. I wondered, because — as someone who doesn’t read my work very well –sometimes when I am at my monthly writers group (no critique, just everybody reads) I sometimes find myself changing wording on the fly, then go back and revise a poem based on that experience of having to stand up and deliver the poem to other people. It’s kind of a litmus test for the poem sometimes, I think.
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I’ve done that as well. It’s strange to think that I edited myself on the fly. Usually I am aware of it. But this poem had three re-do’s.
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I re-listened to it while reading and actually it was done incorrectly, not on purpose. I was very very sleepy after three hard nights so I won’t be too hard on myself :) but I did re-record it. Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it.
Nice to know when I’m walking around sleepless, others are keeping an eye on things haha
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Well, it sounded authentic, even if the words didn’t match. Kind of like the difference between what we dream and how we try to describe it to someone afterwards. It starts shifting on us immediately…
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That’s really beautiful, and something to chew on
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Oh Rose. “…where the sultry fog meets mid-October” is exactly where I live. :)
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a very magical place….
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