if who

some nights

you may experience

thought’s diamond

drop           squeezed

from an enraged

zero. strained

& so so

bitterly wrought

some nights

labour, some nights

grieve, some nights

exorcise somnolence

o who                  come middle age

can enjoy their white noise machine

their plastic anti-bruxism mouthpiece

their apnea apparatus           & allow

their subconscious to work

its internalized heresies

its backward dance

its sandpaper erasures that smooth it to sleep

 

as night drips

pandemic & toil

& the schoolchildren

dream of sugar’s

refined fluorescence

speed into tomorrow’s

slapstick

hyped by lucky charms

hallucinate 

locker-lined corridors

that twist into a rich dad

poor dad

pedagogy

 

& their anemic allowance

offers only

a leadership mentality

fueled by squats &

plant-based proteins

by plyometrics

only

feral invective

to arise

& grind – but tonight

 

that rare

ecstatic hour between

the internet’s thirst traps &

the pillow’s

wicked blow

is –

o

who                      

can afford to release

their unrealized life

into a freakish

disambiguating

microtonal cry