The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Matchlock panic attacks –
Palsied palms
Knotting chest
And gut water boiling caustic.
Life got tight and throttled.
Watch me wriggle free
From this jacket of meat –
No zippers, no key.

Elke took to sniffing lamp fuel.
It doughed brittle walls,
Let her float like a crouton.
Sometimes her phone rang
While she lay slack-eyed
On the futon
But muffled, like it
Was in the belly of a pig.

Fuel to her was like a huge bird,
Its feathers slick,
And each night she’d soak a rag,
Climb onto its back
And ride until morning;
The dull languorous wingbeats,
The thump, thump of propulsion.