The Merkel Pillow

Now I can find sleep—a new pillow affords me
plenty of zees I had never thought possible.
New Merkel Pillow is soft hippopotamus;
it’s bound to give My Pillow all it can handle.

I had not slept in a tragic of yesterdays;
the time had come for some deep sleep ability.
Rapid eye movement was awake making coffee,
opting for caffeine fix rather than healthiness.

Ah, perfect hippo pillow, log-saw provider;
too cute for just children so I took possession.
It cuddled my neck, freed those knots from their binding;
I fell deeply asleep not remembering when.

Sleep had been nightmare of one carnal hurricane;
I was wits-end in a traveling carnival
tied tight on the track of the Wild Cat Coaster,
then feeling the yanking as cars fell in tandem.

Yes, an ogre arising as sleep played a joke,
those heavy lead chains dragging me like a sadist.
Looking as vicious hunger to bite off all heads,
being cranked as the shaft old Godzilla had turned.

Yet my Merkel arrived to lend peace to unease;
down inside, soft surface nap full snout protruding.
Cradle-like is the hold for sleep’s pleasure at night,
or an afternoon napping if time should permit.

Walking as zombie the 3 A.M. eeriness—
the mind cried for slumber, physique full of tension.
Like war torture interrogation of captive;
my old pillow nothing but lumps for the aching.

’Twas Amazon Choice so I ordered as eager,
the goal to keep sleepiness from eyes so nettled.
Delivery took hold one day as UPS
left pillow package I longed for on my front porch.

Usurping with ease all the pillows beforehand,
it blending so smartly with bedpost and blanket,
lending aesthetics to a spartan room markedly,
the pillow, Merkel received my full approval.

As Merkel delivers the sleep I was missing
and all of the night tremors left unattended,
and wellness restored like a fresh rain in summer…
I drift off in the peace of a comforting dream.


40 Lines
Writer’s Cramp Winner
7-18-19