Poem 4/25 Sleep and Sleeplessness

SLEEP AND SLEEPLESSNESS

I
Why is it so quiet at night?
The window is filled with ghosts and subways.
If I turn quickly to the left the spirit stops crying.
Or is it the right?

II
The Russian man’s drunk again.
He screams all night. I can’t sleep.
I call the police, then he calls the police on me for calling the police. That’s why I never call the police.
I decide to slash his tires.
There are cameras in the garage.

III
We take turns getting up and going to the bathroom.
Sometimes we say hello as we pass each other.

IV
The Chinese man is off his meds again.
He stamps his feet and drops marbles on the wooden floor.
One morning I hear him yelling, Don’t’ take me away!
The noise is gone, but I can still smell his cigarettes.

V
I like the sound of cars on the highway.
It makes my bed more comfortable.

VI
I can’t sleep.
You can’t sleep?
No. I can’t sleep.
Feeling guilty about something?
No! Are you?
No!

VII
I’m dreaming about an unattractive man.
I say to him, The only reason I’m having sex with you is so you’ll shut up for an hour.
It’ll only take ten minutes, he replies.
REM sleep does not improve my sex life.


VII
According to the Discovery Channel, in a typical lifetime we spend about six years dreaming.
If you’re snoring, you’re not dreaming. Your snoring may also be knocking a couple of years off of my dream life.
Mary Shelley created Frankenstein in a dream.
If you didn’t snore so loud, I’d have written a classic novella by now.

IX
Why is it so quiet?
I can’t sleep.

© puma perl, 4/25/11