floorboards unheard

Memorize where there’s creaks in the floor,

trying not to wake nobody or

pour these noises to the boards

for the downstairs neighbors,

I should go to bed

get these eyes who want to cry some rest

but I confess

I’m terrified tonight,

every night–

not of the dark itself

but of being blind

to something there,

something’s there

in the air

behind the chair

shadows of the past

dance in the moon

light, on the walls and barred in grids,

they morph behind my eyelids

to creatures lacking skin

claws scrawling blood with pins,

I should get these tired eyes some sleep

instead of letting them weep

but my mind slipped down a broken world

and forgot what normal

felt like

so now it tries to float

like some shadows over

floorboards unheard.

Try not to wake nobody nor

stir up memories of nights darker than this

lurking right below.

***

find my published book at this link