The Noctuary -- A Night Journal -- and some Amazing Synchronicity!

Editor's note: Anyone who read the last My Story Lives blogpost knows that my husband and I were composing poetry in the middle of the night one day last week. Well, little did I know, but when I sent out that post it would land in the mailbox of a long-time MyStoryLives writer, Dr. Mel Waldman. Dr. Waldman first contributed his writing to MyStory in 2007, shortly after I launched the literary blog.

What's so amazing is that my email appeared in the middle of the night at the precise moment -- the "poignant moment -- the sacred point of creation" when he was composing a piece called "My Noctuary." (A noctuary is a night journal.) As Dr. Waldman points out, that was one heck of a synchronicity! This is the email I received from him:

Dear Claudia Ricci:

At the moment in the middle of the night when I began writing “The Noctuary,” a poem about a nightly journal, I noticed an email from Claudia labeled “Writing Poems in the Middle of the Night.” I get a lot of spam and unfortunately did not realize it was Claudia Ricci of My Story Lives. Thus, I deleted the email. However, I have a schizoid email system with the same email divided into email and email app. I read the email in my email app and was delighted.

Attached please find “The Noctuary.” Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Dr. Mel Waldman

So here it is, "The Noctuary,"

By Dr. Mel Waldman

Open

The Noctuary

&

I shall share with you uncanny thoughts dreams happenings

passing

in the phantom night

confessions

of a nighthawk & the sweet phantasmagoria from the postern of the hidden universe

the

unfathomable un-reality of the Unconscious



In

the middle of the night

I

sit inside the Ankara & scribble random revelations about the numinous

for

my Muse enchants/frightens me & we compose a mystical poem about a nightly journal

&

at that poignant moment the sacred point of creation I notice an email from Claudia

Who is she? I can’t recall until I taste an eerie revelation

& read her puissant words "Writing Poems in the Middle of the Night"

Now

I watch folks drifting in & out of Ankara vanishing on Kings Highway

the

Avenue of Pandemic Noir

& I study faces

an

old man looking mindlessly out the window emotionless numb?

drowning

in a deluge of trauma? beneath mammoth waves plummeting into the deep

& far away?

& a young girl overflowing with the life force effusive effulgent ebullient

her

face glittering glowing & covered with a beatific smile

adorned

with a cornucopia of innocence & palpable dreams

coming

forth from her lips She seems oblivious of suffering & tragedy

Perhaps

I shall never fully comprehend the world around me

but I see others coming & going out there & imagine the depth of their lives

& vastness of their dreams

I

exist outside The Noctuary & within & while searching for divinity everywhere

I discover Jungian synchronicity

Dr. Mel Waldman is a psychologist, poet, writer, and artist. His stories have appeared in dozens of magazines including HARDBOILED DETECTIVE, ESPIONAGE, THE SAINT, and AUDIENCE. He is a past winner of the literary GRADIVA AWARD in Psychoanalysis and was nominated for a PUSHCART PRIZE in literature. He is the author of 11 books.