Dreams Sleep Deep Poem by John Ackerman

Haunt My Dreams

He digs the sweet sting of my rhymes
Compares me to prickly pear cactus jelly
We sucked down together one night
When I became too soft for his palate
He fell ill and became another specter
To haunt my dreams like all the rest
Maybe all along he was the somber deity
Who tapped out frosty lullabies on my window

He digs the pink edges of my face
Though I tell him it's all swollen
Allergenic and oily to the touch
I got itchy in this fair countenance
I didn't fit anymore in myself or in him
And it's just as well I be left to my own sick hibernation
These winters were never kind to me
Though now I have an underworld army to keep me company

He digs into the scratches on my arms that sputter with contagion
Compares me to a beggared medicine bag
Syringes and shakers of crushed out synapses
When I became too human for his extraterrestrial imagination
He fell silent and I fell helpless
Conjuring moon sirens and juvenile notebook love spells
When maybe all along I was the villainess, I was the witch hunt
Who ate scabs and sang caustic hymnals