Can anyone say Hawkins, Indiana? It feels like we are there, in the Upside Down world of the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
I woke up thinking about the Upside Down this morning. Like many, like most, I cannot sleep at night waking up worried about will I get COVID-19, will my family members or my friends get it, is this really happening, why did it happen, what can I do about it? So many unanswered questions.
I’ve never slept well anyway, I’m a notorious insomniac which usually doesn’t bother me. But this, this pandemic causing sleepless nights does. Everyone’s world has turned upside down.
I live in a rural area in western North Carolina. There’s not a lot of city noise ever, but you can hear traffic, large machines working in quarries, construction, and the like. But now and especially at night there’s nothing but complete and utter silence, the kind of silence where yes you really could hear something as light as a pin dropping on the ground, floor, whatever.
I’m part of GenX so I’m used to solitude, I’m not going out all the time anyway except to visit my Mom, go to guitar class, go on a Girls Night Out, go to work, or out somewhere with my family or to swim.
Swimming! I think that’s what I miss most. The pool is closed.
Spring Break at Easter, that’s what I miss second – last night I cancelled our beach trip reservations. With our imposed Stay at Home order in North Carolina for 30 days, we were never going anyway, but I still kept holding onto hope that this was all some surreal TV show dream that would end as soon as I got a sound night of restful sleep and then woke up.
But no, it’s not, it’s real, it’s quiet, it’s way upside down and there’s no way anybody can sleep.
L.B. Sedlacek is an award winning poet and author with poetry and fiction appearing in many different journals and zines. Her latest poetry books are “The Adventures of Stick People on Cars” (Alien Buddha Press), “The Architect of French Fries” (Presa Press) and “Words and Bones” (Finishing Line Press.) She is a former Poetry Editor for “ESC! Magazine” and also co-hosted the podcast for the small press, “Coffee House to Go,” for several years. She teaches poetry at local elementary and middle schools and publishes a free resource for poets, “The Poetry Market Ezine.” In her free time, LB enjoys swimming, reading, and taking guitar lessons.
The Upside Down of Sleepless Nights
The Upside Down of Sleepless Nights
written by: LB Sedlacek
@lbsedlacek
Can anyone say Hawkins, Indiana? It feels like we are there, in the Upside Down world of the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
I woke up thinking about the Upside Down this morning. Like many, like most, I cannot sleep at night waking up worried about will I get COVID-19, will my family members or my friends get it, is this really happening, why did it happen, what can I do about it? So many unanswered questions.
I’ve never slept well anyway, I’m a notorious insomniac which usually doesn’t bother me. But this, this pandemic causing sleepless nights does. Everyone’s world has turned upside down.
I live in a rural area in western North Carolina. There’s not a lot of city noise ever, but you can hear traffic, large machines working in quarries, construction, and the like. But now and especially at night there’s nothing but complete and utter silence, the kind of silence where yes you really could hear something as light as a pin dropping on the ground, floor, whatever.
I’m part of GenX so I’m used to solitude, I’m not going out all the time anyway except to visit my Mom, go to guitar class, go on a Girls Night Out, go to work, or out somewhere with my family or to swim.
Swimming! I think that’s what I miss most. The pool is closed.
Spring Break at Easter, that’s what I miss second – last night I cancelled our beach trip reservations. With our imposed Stay at Home order in North Carolina for 30 days, we were never going anyway, but I still kept holding onto hope that this was all some surreal TV show dream that would end as soon as I got a sound night of restful sleep and then woke up.
But no, it’s not, it’s real, it’s quiet, it’s way upside down and there’s no way anybody can sleep.
Lenoir, NC, USA