A Familiar Rest in a Familiar Place

Sofa bed nap

Winter’s blackness

An exhaustion

Even though I’ve slept...

A familiar rest in a

Familiar place

Thin winding wall

A few differences

Mattress in plastic

Leaning against the wall

Desk rearranged

New tacky silk curtains

Around blinds

And an all-consuming darkness -

Grandma rushes in -

Do you know where the sheets are?

When Monte was here

He moved the mattress over the

Closet to the bedroom -

No, no

Reassurances – I'll be quick

Ok – never mind! High-pitched

Shuffling, scuffing carpet

Gone behind closed door.

Rip it open – each scratchy

Cushion – the green and orange Afghan

Pull out – metal bar

That reveals the folded secret -

First one to meet

The feet on the floor

The second

A loud plop of the mattress

Finding its mate -

Thin, buttoned horizon

Wakes in the hot sleep

A vacuum of darkness

Dictated only by the

Beady red letters

On the clock

It hovers

Like its floating

Even though

You know

Where it sits

On Grandpa’s old desk -

Sleep

In a rolling side,

Stomach back

The neighbor’s dogs raising hell

And the comforting blackness.