[Jim Hayes]

Thank you John, I saw you announce a Speccie comp for best loser and thought I'd enter being as how it's a subject close to my heart an' all.

Besides, I noted that Schechter is sweeping the boards and a fit of jealousy overtook me to the extent that I thought I'd better try and do something about it. Mind you, it's only trying.

[Gail White]

Sleep is overrated.
Sitting up is fun.
Why lie down sedated
waiting for the sun?

Time to throw a party,
or clean the dresser drawers!
I'm awake and hearty
while the city snores.

Neither theft nor fire
will take me unawares.
I could hear a vampire
stealing up the stairs.

For a midnight panic
it's better to be dressed,
and if I'm rather manic
at least I'm not depressed.

[Tom Maria]

What an adorable little poem. I hope you won't change a word.

[Roger Slater]

Jim, I'm glad to have galvanized you. Good stuff. And Gail, love yours too.

I can't seem to catch the spirit of this comp. Here's my latest off the mark attempt:

NOCTURNAL

I dreamt I had insomnia.
I thrashed upon my bed
dreaming I was not asleep
but wide awake instead.

Later on I woke for real.
I thrashed, and then I knew:
if you want it bad enough,
dreams sometimes come true.

[Spindleshanks]

Where the scribe and where the bard?
Lying wide-eyed on his bed,
combing through his mental lexicon
for that fugitive mot juste,
vital to the smart beau geste
couplet playing ping-pong in his brain.

“Once upon a midnight dreary”—
Poe recorded in his diary
that which every ardent scribbler knows:
somewhere in the hours between
midnight and the break of dawn,
inspiration parties with the muse.

So give heed, you who would mock
this confirmed insomniac:
while you dream away your lives,
we the sleepless live our dreams.

oOOo

[R. S. Gwynn]

Re. a rhyme for insomnia:

A victory in 2012 for Romney, a
Sure recipe for Democrats' insomnia.

[Roger Slater]

I cannot sleep, or sleep in fits.
My Southern friend said, "Try some grits."
But I don't consider hominy a
cure for a bad case of insomnia.

[John Whitworth]

I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
Upon the Marsh of Romney, a
Farrago of such utter balls
It led to my insomnia.

[Birthe Myers]

Insomnia I’ve never had
And it does not make me glad
What it does is make me mad.
Too much sleep is very bad
A waste of time I could have had
To think and do, it's really sad.

[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by R. S. Gwynn

Re. a rhyme for insomnia:

A victory in 2012 for Romney, a
Sure recipe for Democrats' insomnia.

A win for President Mitt Romney, a
Sure recipe for Dem insomnia.
Add Sarah Palin as his veep,
And nobody'd get any sleep.