It began with an experimental dip into prose poetry that didn't work which left me with some leopards in leotards. I wasn't sure what to do with my little 'poem' until I experienced my first 10 day isolation period. When I was nearing the end of my time indoors my sister rang to say she had been pinged in another part of the country and needed to complete 8 days. Knowing the leopards would make her laugh I promised her a poem a day and sent it to her. Having slept in the spare room for my isolation and found it strange to fall asleep somewhere different these were all became sleep poems. Here they are:
Leopards
Sometimes
when I am dropping off to sleep
I try to picture leopards in leotards
I want them to make a circus just for me.
Rhino at bedtime
When the spare bed feels too solid
I imagine I am a rhino
full bellied
grass on my breath
thick skin against ground
ready to dream.
A Sloth Sleeps
I can’t fall asleep tonight
so I imagine hooking on to a strong branch
like a sloth.
I close my eyes to make them sleepy;
open them slowly to see the dark.
I imagine being a yawn
high above everything
not afraid of falling,
but there is too much air.
Flamingoes
Sometimes,
just before I fall asleep,
I see flamingoes
voguing
back and to
back and to
their eyes all attitude.
Ants
I wonder what ants dream.
And if they have trouble falling asleep
do they beat gentle rhythms in the air
with their antennae
or rub their legs across their heads
to lull themselves away.
A Dead Crocodile
I told someone I love
that I slept like a dead crocodile
the other night
and then spent the day wondering
whether or not that could be the actual truth.
A log
Sometimes
when I sleep like a log
I think I must snore
ruin the illusion.
But I imagine my bark patterns
deepening in the night
and the softness of moss growing on me
enticing someone to touch me gently.
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