Insomniac

Insomniac - fact Summary

Publication Detail: 1978

insomniac is a brief, lucid poem about sleeplessness. The speaker notes that sleep can be elusive, behaving in a coy, aloof, and disdainful way, and that all the tricks the speaker uses to coax sleep fail. The tone is patient but piercing, turning a private struggle into a plain statement about the stubbornness of wakefulness. The poem appears in Maya Angelou's 1978 collection And Still I Rise, offering a quiet moment of vulnerability within a larger arc of resilience. It emphasizes universal fatigue and the cost of restless nights.