Once Upon A Midnight Dreary Poem by Paige Nielsen

The flicker of the candle’s glow illuminates
objects surrounding me.
My mind struggles to illuminate
the madness and ennui that have
penetrated my skull.
Do the shadows on the wall dance to
what is playing on my stereo,
or something else?
The raw, husky, and sarcastic voice of
the lead singer of The Dresden Dolls
swallows and embitters me.
I can’t breathe in
the chill air of everblooming night.
This dark chocolate I’m eating
makes me feel like doing something dangerous,
probably highly illegal.
These limes sting, encouraging my masochism.
Crackers stave off malnourishment.
My olfactory is pungent with
the acridly sweet and musky aroma of red incense.
The darkness blankets me like silence never could.
I feel as though I am being imparted some sordid secret
under this all-encroaching black.
Pensively, I sift through memories of pain.
It seems unhealthy to dwell on such things;
however, I am drawn to them
like the gossamer wings of the pale luna moth
to an open flame.
Secondhand sorrow is as satisfying as day-old pizza.
It is cold, congealed, and slightly distasteful.
But I consume anyway, because of the hunger.
I just pray it doesn’t disagree with me.
So many other things do:
my parents, my peers, my guilt.
Let me pray.
Who to?
The god of day-old pizza, perhaps.
I believe my insides to be melting
like the candles before me.
Not literally, of course.
I just have the strange sensation of being hollow.
Like a sieve,
draining all of me that is vivacious out.
It will most likely resemble
the sludge made of
weeks of snow and an abundance of mud.
I laugh to the thin air.
I pass over the candle with my hand—
and I feel a slow burn…