"Crack/Slip"

Burn down the nightmare,
figured and forged in

an iron climate,
iron jaws, masticating,
spinning on the dervish's dish,
melting the berserker's skin:

this sleeplessness,
foaming lunar madness
and lamenting violet insomnia--

careless to dawn,
familiar with moon,
constellations blushing
through clouds, planets

in currents carried too cold.

nonsensical to seasons,
indifferent to equinoxes,
solstices helpless,
unconscious from counting,
conscious to clocks and watches,
confusion circadian, fish
in currents carried too fast.

Start from drifting,
flustered and flicked switches thrown,
confounded and sifted memories gone,
rising from the covers resigned,
strung out from imagined sounds:

all is sleeplessness,
regularly bell-less rings,
and well-mapped ceilings--

digital bells and beeps,
glowing numbers multicolored,
cats' eyes closed,
heartbeat still strong, blood
in currents carried too hot.

---
10.28.05
MWL