Temples pulsing, heart racing
mouth clenched in fear.
Pleading. Bargaining.
Nightmare screams in daylight hours
silently explode in my head.
Why?
Why can’t you hear me?
Can you?
Do you?
Dwight is our guest host today at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. It’s Tuesday Poetics and he ask us to consider the sounds of silence. Illustration: The Scream by Edvard Munch – Wikipedia Commons.
lillian the home poet 
I know the way you imagine you are screaming in a dream but all you hear is silence.
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Catching up….yes — I think at some point in our lives, all of us have screamed or shouted epithets etc in our heads at someone or something. Ah to just let it all out in a primeval SCREAM!!!!
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I hate it when they won’t answer-sort dropped into the dark side today. Silence, it seems, sometimes is not your friend.
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I so agree, Glenn. Catching up on reading today 🙂
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Great take. Such desperation.
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Thank you….desperation could be another name for this painting!
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Silence makes us thing we aren’t heard.
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And sometimes, for whatever reasons, our screams can only be in our heads.
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Words and photo complement each other ~ Dark portrayal of how silence can explode in one’s head ~
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Yes. The motivation for this post….the actual happening of this screaming “Why can’t you hear me?” was when my spouse was in a paralytic induced coma, on life support, after his 6 minute cardiac arrest. I was screaming in my head because propriety told me, forced me to as I knew I could not stand in the CICU and scream it at him. Happily, we are still together….five years since this horror…and he is 100% himself. Thankful for every day.
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I love the painting you chose to go with your poem. It is such a good illustration of the frustration of trying to speak but not being able to get it out! Nightmare screams in daylight hours says it all. Very nice write Lillian.
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Thank you. I’ve always related to that painting….sometimes a primeval scream is all we want to do but, as adults, propriety says we cannot not. Ah to be 2 again and just let it all out!!! 🙂
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Yes!
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The painting is perfect. Desperate, silent screams wanting to hear.
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Thank you, Mary. Catching up on my reading and responses today — 97 degrees with an air quality alert today in Boston. Time to stay in the airconditioning and enjoy dVerse and a good book! 🙂
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kaykuala
Nightmare screams in daylight hours
silently explode in my head.
Silence is deafening as often been said. Very true, Lillian
Hank
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Glad you enjoyed, Hank. Catching up on my dVerse reading and responding today — 98 degrees with an air quality alert in Boston – time to stay in the airconditioning with dVerse and a good book!
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There’s a lot of tension as well as a sense of desperation built with your words. Excellent match to the picture.
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Thank you! So glad you enjoyed.
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My choice of poem too is based on silent screams!
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Sometimes I admire the 2 year olds’ ability to let out primeval screams and stomp their feet so all can see, anywhere anytime anyplace, their anger and frustration! 🙂
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Silent screams are the loudest ones.
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Amen to that! Catching up on comments and reading today. 98 degrees with an air quality alert in Boston today. Time to stay inside, in airconditioning, with dVerse and a good book! 😉
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Not sure if you picked the image first and then wrote about it or wrote first and then picked the image, but no matter, they go so well together!!! How true: Nightmare screams in daylight hours.. Reminds me of some days during work 🙂 Well done!
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Glad you enjoyed, Adda. Actually, I wrote the poem first — remember standing in CICU almost 5 years ago with George on life support, in an induced paralytic coma and wanting to scream at him, CAN YOU HEAR ME???? ARE YOU IN THERE???? I KNOW YOU”RE IN THERE!!! but propriety telling me I could not do that in a hospital. Then edited the post to be more generic…and then thought of the painting (which I’ve always been fascinated with!).
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It might be a bad dream…or a desperate prayer!
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Actually, in reality, it was indeed a desperate prayer. And it was answered I’m happy to say. Thankful for every day.
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I’m thankful with you, Lillian!
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The opening lines are so powerful. This felt like a really bad dream. Well done, Lill!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed.
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I did!
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Ah, the Beautiful misery of silence. 😎🥀
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Thank you, Dorna.
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