#messages in the madness
The melatonin was working fine, just fine, I thought, but I figured either we had a rogue sound machine with broken buttons or that one of the machines was possessed. I kept hearing things, but my husband didn’t. Just like when the car starts making a sound, only not a car but a tiny little white noise machine.
So finally, finally – – he in his melatoninlessness began hearing mysterious sounds, too. I didn’t know whether to cry, be scared, or celebrate.
If your children tell you they hear funny voices at night, believe them and check the sound machine. They’re in there.
our old fan broke
but our new fan was too quiet
(they don't make 'em like they used to)
so
we bought a second
sound machine
the kind for babies
with the white noise
so we can both sleep
if one of us is traveling
but now I’m hearing
what he
can’t make out
in all the white noise
in this Sound Spa machine
we both hear
all the usual things: rain, thunder, waves
crashing, crickets chirping, owls hooting
but I roll over half asleep
and I hear
these:
computer printer printing
washing machine
pulsing monitor
injured animal
Moaning Myrtle
steel drums
robot sirens
Amazon notifications
vintage typewriter return dings
disco beats
messages in the machine
heard by one unpillowed ear
I'm afraid next I'll hear a murder
or a confession
or a ghost of a soldier who stood where I now sleep
looking for his lost buttons
and his lost love
no sleeping here
Common Threads 
WOW! This is a sppoky poem! I love how you chose to make it cascade down and around, just like the sounds coming at you. A perfect, mysterious tone is set. Fav line: Moaning Myrtle!
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Thank you, Sally! Interesting fact: one sound machine seems possessed and the other one is normal. Thanks for reading!
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Such a fun, creepy slice where your poetic form matches the topic. You elaborate with such vivid details and precise images that I must admit, I want to hide under a blanket. This slice is imagination running wild. I do hope you find the just-right setting to lull you to sleep. For now, I am sticking to audiobooks.
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I should do that too! I’m always afraid I’ll fall asleep and miss important details. At least I’d be asleep, though! Thanks for reading!
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Kim, what a wonderful poem showing all the fears we can imagine when sounds wake us from our sleep. Love the way you formatted your poem, and that ending with the soldier looking for a lost button or a love is priceless!
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Thank you, Barb! Looks like we both had the spooky vibe going on today.
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We’re definitely on the same wavelength today!
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Oh, Kim – how rich a poem about the exhaustion of trying to sleep and the difference in sounds preying on the weary mind! Moaning Myrtle – duly noted Potter reference – and oh that soldier looking for his lost buttons and lost love – it’s fantastic. Phantasmagoric. I have often wondered about ghosts of soldiers that might have been in my early childhood home, as it was once a WWII hospital morgue. I am so glad your husband finally heard the “voices” too – and I adore “melatoninlessness.” Your creativity knows no bounds – and I celebrate it, even as I relate to that photo of clawing at the curtains against the pull of the sleepless netherworld.
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Fran, thank you! Yes, I would truly love to know about the ghosts of our areas in NC and Ga! I’d love knowing these stories and who they were.
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Kim,
Did you and Barb confer before writing your slices? They are eerily synergistic. Same for your poems. “They’re in there” is creepy enough for Stephen King, but it’s also a sweet line reminding me of all the memories certain sounds evoke. I’m gonna have nightmares if I read another scary slice today. Love the story, the poem, and the photo that sets the tone.
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Thank you, Glenda! I see – Barb and I were both in fearful mode today. It reminds me of the times I show up at work and three or four of us are all dressed like we are having a color coordinated outfit photo made.
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Your post reminds me why I do NOT use a sound machine anymore! There are sounds that come through that I do find scary and unnerving! Thus, about 3 years ago I began sleeping with the window cracked open, most of the year. Nature seems to be the best noise for me, but then I sleep on the second floor!
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Anita, the strange thing is that one works fine and the other had the noises. I really believe one is possessed. I probably should do the window thing too. Except during pollen season (we live in the middle of a pine tree farm). Thanks so much for reading!
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I’ve never used a sound machine, and I am not sure I want to. What a mix of sounds that would cause me to contemplate all night! Love the format of the poem that I can imagine mimics the thoughts in your mind bouncing everywhere as you listen.
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Thank you for reading! Yes, I’m
Having second thoughts about the machine but one works fine and the other has the noises. Strange, isn’t it?
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Is this ‘scary Saturday’? I just read Barb’s post and now yours is giving me chills. These lines of your poem – “but now I’m hearing/
what he/can’t make out” are frightening, especially with all the white space you create, breaking the line. Exhaustion can definitely play with the mind. Also, we hear differently – your hearing may be more acute than his. Just sayin’!!
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Ha! He does have some selective listening, but I really do hear better than he does. The frequencies for me are more defined. Thanks for reading!
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Wow. This poem, the use of space, the phrases that are so familiar to a struggling sleeper who uses a fan at night for white noise – I thought it was unusual, but now, you’ve unraveled that assumption, just as your poem unravels the struggle to sleep. You should consider submitting this for publication. It’s incredible.
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Thank you, Melanie! I appreciate your kind words of encouragement and thank you for reading!
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Kim – this was fantastically spooky! I have tinnitus so I need a sound machine to go to sleep so I keep the internal ringing at bay! If my sound machines start making odd noises, I don’t know what I’ll do! Your details are so vivid and creepy as is the photo. I may need more than melatonin to sleep tonight!
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The really odd thing is that one of the machines has sounds that are spooky in the white noise, and the other one works fine. It’s like one is possessed or something. Save your receipt if you get one – – just in case. Thanks so much for reading!
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Kim, I love the story and this fun and scary poem. The long and exaggerated (I hope) list of sounds makes me smile and get spooked: the soldier “looking for his lost buttons
and his lost love” Great poem!
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Thank you, Denise!
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