FRESH NIGHTMARES

FRESH NIGHTMARES

Sailing down my private Styx,
Searching for a brand new fix.
The coiled serpent around the neck
No longer does the gruesome trick.
No longer in his vaunted mesh
My weary thoughts enslaves and snares.
I'm looking for some nightmares fresh
Brand new scandalous scares.

Nighttime is my fright time,
How like the lion it once roared.
My dreaming and my inner life,
Were the only ways my spirit soared.
Armies encamped on the field,
Mine vanquished by a slash of sword,
Felled by gargantuan guillotines,
The horror leaves me cold and bored.
I hope I've not become blasé,
I hope I'm not desensitized,
I think that I just need to find,
Some brand new theater of the mind.

Fresh nightmares to pluck at the eyeballs,
That leave me intoxicated with the rush of a highball.
Some new drama, perhaps an alien in the force field.
Some super hero enemy, thrusting out his shield,
Leaving me to sally forth and parry,
The weight of disease on my back I carry,
Into the confounded conflagration,
Like some ancient knight of yore,
A nighttime private exhortation,
Full of guts, chock full of gore.
My private horror movie screening,
Replete with blood and my own screaming,
Designed to waken my sleeping will,
My emptiness of days to fill,
Fodder for a novel perhaps,
Devilish accompaniment to naps.
Some twisted weird reminder that I am still here,
Vibrant and ready to conquer the fear.

I'm ready for the heady rush, all I need's a little push.
Ready for the night of the living dead,
The monsters in waiting beneath my bed.
Just give me a nightlight and a flask,
Then bring on the ghouls in their gruesome masks.

When all the muscles freeze and stiffen,
When all I have's imagination,
I toss my hat into the ring and join the celebration.
My dream life a perilous plunge deep into the restless sleep.
Of a tainted twisted fairy tale, where the handsome princes weep.
Trapped in some familiar once upon a time,
Where life was one of normalcy and endings so sublime.

Sailing down the river Styx,
Hopes and fears into the mix.
The same old tripe to the surface bubbles,
Mind-numbing as all my toils and troubles.
The frightful it can be delightful, as long as you stay fast asleep,
Fresh nightmares, new night scares, they crawl and they creep.
Meaning no harm, they disturb and alarm.
Leaving me shaking and stifling my screams,
Falling headfirst on the sword of my dreams.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2013
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED