Ronald Moran
SLEEP
It’s much easier now for me to get the fantods,
as in,
for example, when I hear my house cracking its
knuckles,
I hear it as someone trying to crack the lock
on my
back door, and, in a move of utter futility, I aim
my
pencil flashlight in that direction, then try to fall
asleep,
until I start a round of dreams in which the dead
of
my life return, and while I am trying to please
them,
which is impossible, as it was when they were
alive,
I wake up, my body tingling, my heart beat
elevated,
and so I drink two glasses of water, add a third
pillow
under my head, leave the light on for a couple
of minutes,
and wait for the miracle of water to cleanse
me.
Bio: Ronald Moran is the author of a dozen collections of poetry and several volumes of literary criticism. Professor Emeritus at Clemson University, he lives in Simpsonville, SC.
Wild Goose Poetry Review 