“Untucked”
Untucked
When he’s away (increasingly,
these days), she
sleeps at the foot
of the bed. It’s for the light, she
tells him, or rather
the turning off of the light,
the lone lamp that sits on a
dwarfed file cabinet at the bed’s
bottom, not the best configuration, but rooms
are not always perfect for the
furniture people bring to them.
It was hard at first
to find a spot down there; hard to tug the top
sheet from its tuck, and even once uprooted,
to squeeze into its tight pocket, her limbs
a swaddled ricochet of angled waist, hips,
knees, aimed to keep her feet from
the opposite dangle.
I miss you too, he replies,
but he, someone who sleeps when tired, eats
when hungry, does not quite understand her fidget
around burning vacancy, the twist and turn of one
so defended she
can only meet need through
a maze, or over
a parapet.
It’s for the light, she tells him, the turning off
of the light, trying to describe the purgatory of
the doggedly dwindling, but
the truth, of course, is
more complex.
Tags: dVerse Poets OLN, Imperfect Prose Poem, manicddaily, no sleep for the weary, poem about insomnia, sleepless nights poem
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ManicDDaily 
June 12, 2012 at 9:54 pm
i appreciate this for no other reason than for the years i used to travel…though my wifes thing was to keep a knife under the pillow…until she forgot and i almost cut my hand off one night…there is a nikki giovanni poem too about sleeping at the foot of the bed to smell their feet…
June 12, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Ha- I’m laughing about the smelling of the feet which reminds me of JOyce (more on that later perhaps), but the knife – oops. k.
June 12, 2012 at 11:54 pm
“a swaddled ricochet, her fidget, so defended” so very viscerally good and chewy. i feel for this woman and may, in fact, be her in ways i don’t care to magnify. ~~jane
June 13, 2012 at 12:18 am
wow…there’s much complexity in this…streams that run under the surface.. great job on painting the images k.
June 13, 2012 at 2:17 am
When alone we tend to feel insecure for no reason. There are however a number of other reasons here which may not be thought of when there’s someone else also! This is something real. Great thoughts K!
Hank
June 13, 2012 at 3:57 am
Emotional undercurrents so strong that it could knock one out of bed altogether 🙂
Full of the most delicious phrases.
June 13, 2012 at 5:16 am
I would never have thought of sleeping at the bottom of the bed as being more secure. Maybe sleeping in their ‘spot’ might do for me. There are so many layers to this. Yikes on Brian’s wife sleeping with a knife. That’s scary! LOL
This is fabulous in it’s imagery. We have a tiny nightlight always plugged into the wall socket in the hall and, my bedroom door is always open so, while the room is dark, there is always a light on.
A lovely read to start my morning, thank you!
June 13, 2012 at 5:49 am
One thing about your writing is that you focused on a single frame and give it details and emotional play ~ And I always sleep with a small light on ~ Enjoyed your share ~
June 13, 2012 at 6:13 am
” does not quite understand her fidget
around burning vacancy”…this poem is filled with great lines and insights. You take an instance and explore it so thoroughly and intimately. Very nice work.
June 13, 2012 at 7:07 am
This is true to life. I think some of us do these contortions because we are uneasy being alone at times…especially at night. I have also had many years of insomnia, and do something very much like this: sleep at the bottom of the bed. Especially during thunderstorms when the strikes of lightening are right outside the window at the top of the bed!
A lovely and complex poem, K. With that very strong touch of universality on the human condition.
Lady Nyo…
June 13, 2012 at 8:33 am
Thanks so much, Jane.
June 13, 2012 at 9:36 am
Just lovely. There are few places lonelier than an empty bed.
June 13, 2012 at 9:58 am
Firstly, what a great, simple blog. Absolutely.
And then the poem – so many…bits to it…I wasn’t insomnia, I was someones dead cat!
Lovely.
June 13, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Ha. Thanks.
June 13, 2012 at 12:57 pm
It always is more complex, of course. Only parents – and those who think themselves parents, like teachers, magistrates etc – demand “The simple, plain, unvarnished truth.”
June 13, 2012 at 3:12 pm
To me, this is a really important metaphorical poem, Karin. It raises questions about relationship and the issue of complexity makes me want to know more. So good.
June 13, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Thanks so much, Victoria. Hope you are well. k.
June 13, 2012 at 5:15 pm
I deeply enjoyed this poem karin. I found so much that is feminine, and thereby mysterious to me. It has that gentleness of soul that I call simplicity of heart, which dwarfs all pretensions to universal knowledge of power in its amazing ability to see what is real simply thru love and care. Wonderfully written.
June 13, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Thanks so much, Charles. You are very kind. k.
June 14, 2012 at 10:57 am
very good. i have never had to travel much, but we have been discussing it more lately… Love the last stanza
June 14, 2012 at 11:24 am
Thanks, Mark.
June 14, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Neat write. The tone is perfect here and the scene is painted very nicely. Sleeping is very interesting to me, as I’ve experienced so many different situations with it. I used to travel, and many days I’d wake not knowing where I’m at, I’ve had the urge to do nothing but sleep as well as week long episodes of insomnia. But probably the oddest thing I’ve experienced in regards to sleeping has to do with the foot of the bed. Recently actually, I’ve experienced on more than one occasion, where I’ll go to be as per usual, only to somehow find myself waking up in completely the other direction, at the foot. It’s a mystery, perhaps some variation of sleepwalking, which if the case, would actually be a first, but in any case, sorry for the long note, but the sleeping at the foot of the bed notion rang true for me and thought I’d share this bit of personal oddity lol. Great read. Thanks
June 14, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Thanks, Fred. k.
June 14, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Your poem reminds me of how very blessed I am to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere. Sometimes I think I’m borderline narcoleptic. My poor husband, on the other hand: he forbids me to take the children away for more than two night at a time because he can’t sleep when we’re gone. He won’t go to bed, at all.
June 14, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Sleeping anywhere anytime is a wonderful skill. k.
June 14, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Great write, Karin. The characters are so well developed. Funny how some people could sleep through an eathquake while others, usually the partners of sound sleepers, awaken at the slightest noise, and have trouble sleeping when the setting changes or the partner is away.
June 16, 2012 at 10:18 am
brilliant approach to the complexity of relationship.. really enjoed your exploration of this.
June 16, 2012 at 11:09 pm
“burning vacancy” and “it’s for the light…” i get this. it’s a love thing. that makes you so restless, with and without, because it’s so mysterious and powerful and keeps you wanting more.
June 16, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Hi Emily! Yes. Thanks so much for your comment. Hope all is well. k.