When was the last time you pulled an all-niter? Is it something you do regularly? Are the lines between day and night eternally blurred by the light of the lamp and the screen?
Mantra seems to think it is not necessarily the obligations, worry and distractions we create and entertain which are the issue. Since she has no true concept of time, I often wonder if she thinks we humans are a sub-par life form, with our incessant need for repose.
Up All Night
Cup of ink starts the morning.
Is it really a new day?
From the light of yesterday
To this dawn, the lamp stayed lit.
Sleep is not elusive. It is stubborn,
Flatly refusing sweet invitations
To star in much needed relaxation,
Instead leaving behind these bloodshot stares.
The tiles in the ceiling are sure
They are being replaced too soon,
Counted four dozen times by noon,
Since they are slower than fat sheep.
One hundred pages of doodles,
Despicable attempt at art,
Not evocative to the heart,
But terse and surly, ugly lines.
The nap of the rug’s worn shiny.
Three hundred forty six paces.
Swearing the footprints make faces,
Their mouths in yawning mockery.
The pillow has been fluffed again,
Honestly, “punched” more accurate.
Limp: Flattened out because of it.
Insomnia: Danger to all.
110920120416
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Do you have days where you wonder what day it is because you have been up for more than two? What do you do to fall asleep? Have you ever threatened ceiling tiles or beaten a pillow into submission?
What is the longest period you have stayed awake? And why did you?
Carl D'Agostino
/ September 24, 2012I pulled a lot of “all nighters” in college. Seldom with books. Usually with little orange pills you could get from the happy man in the park with rainbow colored clothing and a guitar.
Carl D’Agostino recently posted..“Ideas” by Carl D’Agostino
Red
/ September 25, 2012There are quite a few whose experience with the lack of sleep were far more recreational. Great to see you today, Carl.
BuddhaKat
/ September 24, 2012“YAAAAWWWWNNN” HUH!?!?!?
Too old for all nighters, but getting up before the crack of dawn – sometimes productive, sometimes a mere spinning of whining wheels!!!
Someone stop the brain – I want SLEEP!!!
🙂
BuddhaKat recently posted..Featuring 4ish or 5ish Fancy, Fine, Fresh Fractals for…
Red
/ September 25, 2012You sound like me before the third pot of coffee. With Mantra waking me in the middle of the night to write…
Androgoth
/ September 24, 2012I often burn the candle at both ends but then again I have always been like this and it is therefore a normal way of life for me. I don’t ever recall having problems sleeping whenever I need it, and I can easily sleep in the light of day (must be a Vampire thing? 😉 lol)
Seriously though it is ages ago that I stayed up on an all nighter, apart from when I have been very naughty but we won’t even go there 😉 lol
Okay what was I saying? Oh yes the days of Astronomy, where my friend and I would stay out all night literally gazing at the stars and planets through mediocre telescopes and feel the freeze of the night air, well sometimes anyway 🙂
I am quickly going off on a tangent here Red and so I will just add that I have enjoyed your poem and that I will be back here later to read all of the comments and wickedly orientated observations (only the nice one’s then 🙂 ) from this fine posting of yours 🙂
Have a fun evening and don’t
you be up all night okay? 😉 🙂
Androgoth XXx
Red
/ September 25, 2012Oh, that is a fun way to stay up all night long. I am so glad to hear the majority of the M3 Readers are staying up to indulge fun pursuits 😉 I do this on a regular basis for both work and recreation, so it is fun to hear what everyone else does when they are not sleeping! I hope your day has begun well and your afternoon heading for a gorgeous evening. 😉
prenin
/ September 24, 2012Given it is 2.26am and I won’t be in bed until 8am I guess I’m a bit of a night Owl! 🙂
Because I’m on meds I don’t sleep properly and sleep even less when stressed!!!
When I was working a 50 hour day was not unusual as my boss wanted everything done yesterday apart from paying me for services rendered!!! 🙁
Love and hugs! 🙂
Prenin.
Red
/ September 25, 2012I think there are a ton of nights where that has been case. Fortunately, my boss is cool about such things now. 🙂
Binky
/ September 24, 2012The older I get, the more I sleep. I must be turning into a cat.
Binky recently posted..Yoga Agony
Red
/ September 25, 2012Which is why old people have cats…
raymond alexander kukkee
/ September 24, 2012Does 4:00am last night count? The peace of midnight and beyond is some of the most productive time…Was up for 78 hrs once, that was about it. The brain in the corner office starts to shut down. zzzzzzzz-zzzzzzz
raymond alexander kukkee recently posted..Sleet and Potatoes
Red
/ September 25, 2012I fall apart somewhere around 84 hours.
MJ Logan
/ September 24, 2012For three days before and on my 21st birthday, I did not sleep. At the insistence of my friends, I went out to party until much too late and met a girl whose kisses promised the world.
Daylight came and we had breakfast, then I went to classes I could not miss. Work from four to eight in the cafeteria was torturous.
And then there was that girl… I made it to bed about four am.
I woke to someone pounding on my door. My boss was on the phone. I’d slept right through my classes, and through my shift at work. After more than 84 hours without sleep, I slept for 16 hours. Other people on my floor said they’d seen me, but I don’t remember it.
The girl? I never saw her again. She didn’t answer her phone and I gave up after a week.
MJ
MJ Logan recently posted..Light
Red
/ September 25, 2012Oh, that is grand. I think when we are young we all have at least one episode like that, although I believe most skip the responsible portion of the time awake.
Gail Thornton
/ September 24, 2012I’ve had many, many nights of mania and no sleep but wonderful creativity and productiveness! It’s a gift and a curse that way for me. But it’s gone over the edge into insanity before, giving me only two or less hours of sleep for three weeks. My body wears out before my mind does….and I don’t punch pillows or pace, I cry when that happens. I see the gift in my art, but sometimes my efforts become like the angry lines of doodles like you spoke about. Mantra really has the essence of the all nighter here tonight!
Gailxxx
Gail Thornton recently posted..The Regret of a Flower1
Red
/ September 25, 2012As a complete night owl, she is intimate with all of this behavior 😉 <3 xxx
Bearman Cartoons
/ September 25, 2012Hey..wanted to give you a heads up that a friend of mine who is a struggling writer might reach out to you for advice. I told him to check out your site and you might have better answers than I could give him.
Bearman Cartoons recently posted..Cartoon You Stink
Red
/ September 25, 2012That is fine. Feel free to give him my email. Thank you for the endorsement, Bearman.
Bearman Cartoons
/ September 27, 2012Thanks. I figured if anyone know their way around promoting work, it is you 🙂
Bearman Cartoons recently posted..Bearman Classic: Marge Simpson Playboy
Red
/ September 28, 2012That would be me. 😉
Valentine Logar
/ September 25, 2012I don’t sleep a great deal but I sleep every day. The last time I pulled an all nighter was in university and I regretted it.
Love the poem, but then I always love your poems for what they say and what they don’t say.
Valentine Logar recently posted..2012 Platforms, Foreign Policy Knot
Red
/ September 25, 2012I need to get to the point I can sleep everyday. It would be so novel. <3