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Seven sleep poems for isolation

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 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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