By Gimbiya Galadima it’s 3:47 am, several minutes past bedtime
your eyes remain open after several attempts to keep them closed closed lids of pots - of freshly boiled long grains white rice you may have counted a thousand times the many ugly ceilings boards that are supposed to beautify your house yet sleep scorns you: it avoids you the way a young girl avoids a poor man she packs her bags at night, wordlessly and moves into the house of your neighbour your wall is so thin you can hear the snoring of his family so loudly jealousy burns in you: you feel tempted to put on your Bluetooth speaker to generously share your playlist when everyone else is at sleep your mother raised you better: so, you just stare and wish that your mind was not so burdened about your account balance which reads negative and your rent, due next week.
9 Comments
Damilola
12/6/2021 12:52:42 pm
This is a very relatable write-up. I personally, have been through this situation. It impresses me to see that you are able to put it down so well and explicitly in written words.
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Emmanuel Success
12/6/2021 01:05:19 pm
This is beautiful written, everyone goes through this ordeal once in a while. It's a rare gift to be able to express them in writing but especially being this apt.
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Sunday Akinrelere
12/6/2021 04:53:06 pm
Many of us have had such experience in time past. When sleep travels far away. But many are ignorant of its cause. Oftentimes, we are the ones sending sleep away without knowing it. Stimulants or narcotics usually send away sleep. At some other time, we send it away by the long exposure of our eyes to the light from the screen of our Android phones or laptops.
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Ah, when sleep eludes you! This describes that feeling nicely; a few punctuation changes and word choice alterations (e.g. the walls were so thin she could hear his family snoring - 'loudly' at the end is just tautology) will definitely improve the effect of this poem on the reader. Great job!
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Temilade Fafure
14/6/2021 05:37:36 pm
I see it as though the sleeplessness was caused by poverty.
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Iyabode Agbesusi Obafemi
15/6/2021 04:17:19 pm
The writer describes the thoughts that can ravage the minds of someone who is restless at night.. Such individual cannot sleep because the heart is burdened with needs to be met with no means to actualize it.. Thanks.
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Similoluwa
16/6/2021 01:24:46 pm
Wowww
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Fawziyyat
17/6/2021 08:55:40 pm
Sleep is both my enemy and lover. In the least, it gives me a break and at worst, my dreams terrify me. Oh the joys of my terrible nightmares, when I wake up at least I have something to think about rather than the endless amount of deadlines I have to meet and my beautifully carved face.
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Chioma
25/6/2021 12:35:11 pm
This beautifully woven poem explores how lack drives us into aloneness, rids us of everything we have, including our sanity and leaving us with nothing but the thoughts of not- having, of our incapabilities.
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