#come the slumberless to the land of nod

[facinaoris]

Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod, Traci Brimhall

[leehallfae]

“always awed by the suffering of others / in a way that is half empathy, half desire”

— traci brimhall, “family portrait as denouement,” come the slumberless to the land of nod

[innocentlymacabre]

I worshipped the myth I made of you, but I'm off my knees now.

— Traci Brimhall, from “Dear Eros,” Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod [ via @lifeinpoetry]

The way this text was written makes it so much more emotionally impactful. That sudden, mid-sentence, jarring cut off before "now" just absolutely sears the word into you. It lends emotional context to the temporal period of the development and it creates a moving sense of growth and grief.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not much of a poetry guy but every time poems make use of structure as a storytelling technique I fall absolutely in love with it.

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[helleboredreams]

Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod

Traci Brimhall

[loathsomepoet]

Slumber

Drowsy eyes all around

Closing at once

When

There is no sound

Eager for a nap

The brain lies

Just a moment of stillness

And you close your eyes

Once they close

You fall in slumber

With time it deepens

Like silence before thunder

But don't you dare

Getting lost in too deep

Cause if you go

Heart ceases to beat

If that happens

You get lost forever

A slumber so deep

That ends all endeavours

[greenarrow1111]

What's the point of recognising my love when I'm with someone else, when we're both married and I'm the better dad,

what's the point of loving me back,

when I've decided to not look back,

When I've stopped looking for reasons to hold on to you in my zodiac,

i don't remember how i waited so long,

or how i moved on, or how my sore heart started beating this rigid tone,

Maybe it was seeing you happy

With someone who's a lot like me, but not exactly

Maybe it was when i started feeling sick of my sincerity

My unprocessed love, and my blunt attitude

Wasn't as exciting as to your Love's attribute

So What's the point of this unconditional love? what's the point in waiting in solitude?!

When you were intertwined to someone else,

I was covered in a jealousy of a different kind

That I coveted you, a Love that's hard to find

Yet a heart full of filthy was zealous to your mind

My love for you was of a different kind

I would've stayed if your heart was broken

If the reason for not accepting my love would've been the fear of getting hurt one more time, i would've stayed even if you didn't, i would've made you believe in my kind of love, shapeless, molding into any routine of life's craziness, i would've made you mine.

But the reason for you was this feeling shaped to look like love for someone else,

You never saw me in that way, not even a glance, maybe my plain & shapeless form clouded you, or maybe it was the fear of drowning, maybe this much was too much for you.

Yet for so long i kept you,

Forever more i crept too,

In hopes of that hopeless rendezvous

Uncertain of my queue or when to withdrew

I continued the gag of loving you,

(Swinging by the bar, fooling myself and everyone around me with that red smile)

Till my love for you reached it's plateau

Till it started becoming an enemy for me,

My mind said " you are not letting me live" it's impossible for me to breathe,

My love for you said, die a little more, endure this and she will be yours,

But one day i saw you leaving town

Leaving this trapeze swinger alone with his clown

Leaving me a letter, saying exactly what you hate about me,

Saying, how i would be weightless if i dropped my love for you,

Saying, the world doesn't recognize the kind of love I'm trying to give ,

So i dug a 10 feet deep hollow into the earth, and burried my undying love for you

And left it with an empty headstone, because i didn't had any name to give it,

and had way too much to write about it,

Something as complete as incomplete.

[godmeditationandyou]

Mera India Mera Adhikar mimango street classes in Delhi slum best ngo in slums delhi

[flowersandfashion]

I'm Your Man, Mitski /// “you said the lambs were ready,” come the slumberless to the land of nod, Traci Brimhall /// I WILL BE GOOD AS LONG AS YOU WANT ME, @thegirlhoodtheory /// 'the reciprocity of the attack dog and the hand that holds the short leash' (edited), @brutaliakhoa /// Moon Song, Phoebe Bridgers /// Still Life Based on Hunting (detail), c. 1665-1701, David De Koninck /// It Will Come Back, Hozier /// "you’ve always been more of a dog person," @tdaspoetry

[nebulous-bitch]

love as violence

caitlin conlon, phantom pains // tina tran, out of the ruins // venetta octavia // iain thomas // yves olade, the miracle mile // sara manguso, love letter (clouds) // traci brimhall, come the slumberless to the land of nod // unknown // margaret atwood, power politics // madeline miller, circe // warsan shire // richard siken, planet of love // hozier, cherry wine

[sonnet77]

Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides, Anne Carson / S6E3: After Life (x) / Persona, Ingmar Bergman / Rbhvleo (x) / S5E14: Crush (x) / Ojibwa (x) / Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod, Traci Brimhall (x) / S5E7: Fool for Love / Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run via Doublydaring (x) / “Mon Semblable”, Between Angels, Stephen Dunn / S7E22: Chosen (x)

[hauntedbythenarrative]

The darkness said, You die whether you risk anything or not. I emptied ashes from my pockets. I crawled to feel the stones cut my knees, God's foot on my throat. The dream said, Follow me. The angel said, You're here.

Yellowjackets (2021-)//Andrei Tarkovsky//If I Believe You, The 1975//Agamemnon, Aeschylus//“dear thanatos, [it wasn’t a dream…],” come the slumberless to the land of nod, Traci Brimhall

[leehallfae]

“jesus offers himself to whoever wants him, / shaving off flesh into every open mouth, and i / took it, stale and merciful”

— traci brimhall, “dioskoiroi,” come the slumberless to the land of nod

[boyfortheslaughter]

MY BROTHER, MY WOUND

@/bookwyrminspiration / john steinbeck, ‘chapter 9: the piggyback’ / richard siken, ‘crush’ / genesis 4:9 / natalia diaz, ‘a brother named gethsemane’ / ocean vuong, ‘on earth we’re briefly gorgeous’ / taylor jenkins reid, ‘daisy jones & the six’ / john darnielle / @/filmnoirsbian / conan gray, ‘the exit’ / traci brimhall, ‘come the slumberless to the land of nod’ / layana clouet, ‘a love letter to a dead thing’ / anne carson, ‘antigonick’ / michael dickman, ‘killing flies’

[tethered-heartstrings]

"come the slumberless to the land of nod" by traci brimhall x hannibal nbc

[willgaham]

SUCCESSION | 2018 — 2023 Roman Roy + love as violence 3.09 / ada limón, the carrying / 4.09 / ada limón, lucky wreck / 2.06 / margarita karapanau, rien ne va plus (translated by karen emmerich) / 4.10 / erin slaughter, i will tell this story to the sun until you remember that you are the sun / 4.02 / traci brimhall, come the slumberless to the land of nod

[geryone]

If you could only keep 5 poetry books what are you picking?

Knife to my throat I’m grabbing

1. Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück

2. Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod by Traci Brimhall

3. Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz

4. Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar

5. Kingdom Animalia by Aracelis Girmay