Insomnia: A Middle-of-the-Night Haibun Collection

With just three lines and a total of 17 syllables in each haiku and studded with prose poetry Insomnia is a raw realistic look at how the pressure of doing it all can bubble up to a breaking point and lead to one of lifes darkest moments.It had been six straight weeks without a full nights sleep; 46 days total of battling extreme insomnia on top of depression anxiety and burnout.Medication meditation yoga CBD eliminating caffeine avoiding naps no technology at night warm milk - you name it Id tried it. Nothing worked.I was so desperate that one night I resorted to writing a haiku wondering if poetry was the secret connection to the area of my brain that regulates sleep.While it didnt bring rest it did bring inspiration. What started as one haiku led to 50 written in the early predawn hours of May 12 2021.Within the book youll read these poems in the order I felt and experienced them studded with prose for more context and giving a glimpse into how my mind races and runs at 180 miles per hour. Over the course of just a few hours I thought about love loss grief and everything in between and experienced a rollercoaster of emotions ping-ponging between love fear anger sadness surprise and joy.Within these poems I reflect on the importance of slowing down settling in and embracing simplicity while questioning who I am where I live and what home means to me. Its purposefully designed to lack formal structure and show how a mess of incoherent thoughts can be jumbled and chaotic yet somehow come together to tell a cohesive story.I wrote this book as a way to remind myself that I made it through the darkness once and I will again. By sharing my story I hope to do my part to help break the stigma around mental health and remind others who are in a dark place that they are not alone. I see you. I feel you. I am here with you.