Mid-morning in a Strange Bed Again
I hear the sirens and I think
the birds have stopped
their wake-up call, but then
I listen and there it is, insistent,
the constant repetition,
the bird-clock chiming,
an undercurrent of time, three notes—
and if I really pay attention, another
answering through the noise
and swish of fronds brushing
each other in the soft breeze.
*
Muffler
I wake up, neck tight,
dream’s scarf
still encircling my throat.
I unwind it, feel my heart
breath returning,
dream receding, stepping back
into the alley of the night.
*
Betsy Mars is a prize-winning poet, photographer, and assistant editor at Gyroscope Review. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. Recent poems can be found in Minyan, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Autumn Sky Poetry Daily. Her photos have appeared online and in print, including one which served as the Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge prompt in 2019. She has two books, Alinea, and her most recent, co-written with Alan Walowitz, In the Muddle of the Night. In addition, she also frequently collaborates with San Diego artist Judith Christensen, most recently on an installation entitled “Mapping Our Future Selves.”
Wow. That muffler/dream’s scarf image might disrupt my sleep!
Thank you – I think! I feel like you got the feeling I was trying to communicate, which I appreciate, and apologize for!
Both of these moments met with such lyrical curiosity, two very different wakings … lovely, Betsy
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, Rosemerry. I love that – “lyrical curiosity!” The contrast is telling. I need to examine that and see what it’s telling me. xo
Congratulations Betsy. Two more beautiful poems you’re on a roll. Erle
Thank you so much, Erle. I miss seeing you!
The first poem is a perfectly wrought closeup, complete in itself. Yet three words in the title enlarge the possibilities and leave me intrigued about what story would emerge beyond the poem’s specific moment if the camera pulled back to reveal the rest of the room: Strange Bed…Again. And Muffler? Each word set in the exact spot where it will abide forever, not a syllable out of place. Beautiful work.
This chokes me up. All I could hope for. Thank you for seeing it so exactly.