When the American Dream Darkens
I
startle awake, and am drenched in sweat.
It takes me a moment to realize
where I am, and that it was just a dream,
and wiping the sweat from out of my eyes,
I look at the clock, and see that it’s three…
I drop back to the bed, and take a breath
to catch it,
to calm it
to stop shaking,
trying to regain control of myself.
The specters that haunt me when I am awake
no longer vanish when I go to bed.
No, they wait there now, when I close my eyes
Transformed in their own ways to cause me dread,
Utility dragons demanding cash,
The landlord, a ghoul
the credit folks: snakes,
and don’t get me started on those crooked
goblin bastards overseeing the banks.
They are always there now, waiting for me,
a hell from which there can be no escape,
for they hound me through the night as I sleep,
and then they resume whenever I wake.
The screams, and howls that chill my blood nightly
transform to rings, and dings, of Texts and calls,
the telltale vibrations of new emails,
then back to howls and shrieks as nighttime falls
and I close my eyes
and to no surprise,
find myself stranded
and empty handed
as every last beast
runs forward to feast
not for cash, but flesh,
and they want it fresh.
What they can’t get in the day, they take here,
Organs, limbs, consuming all that is mine…
Fight as I will, no matter what I do…
Every night my blood flows free as their wine.
No allies exist, at least none I know
who fight against the greed and usury,
so I struggle alone, through night and day,
and hope one day to end this lunacy.
© Jeremy L. Heath, 2025. All rights reserved.
