It's Still Life

The Consequence of Sleeplessness

1:00am I wake up; my brain is writing poetry. Recite it three times, I tell myself, and then it’ll stick when you wake up. I fall asleep mid-sentence.

2:30am I’m always surprised how cold the bathroom floor is in the middle of the night. A cold floor cures a cramp in your foot, I remind myself. You don’t have a cramp in your foot. You just need to pee. I’m trying to remember – what – yeah, lines. A poem. And those clouds poured down on us. If you see God’s face, you’re dead. My gran told me that when I was young. Too scared to look at the sky after that. For a short while. I can’t believe how cold this floor is.

5:30am I think I’m dreaming that it’s light outside. Those clouds poured their grief on us, Mama’s saying Look up and see the face of God. I’m mid-sentence again.

7:00am I hate waking up to traffic reports of storm drains flooding and road closures.

And those clouds
poured their grief on us,

while Mama’s saying,
Look up and see the face of God,

and we were a little less afraid
of drowning after that.

Written for Ragtag Daily Prompt “consequence” AI Digital Artwork is created using Midjourney. Imagery and poems ©Misky 2023 Shared on Twitter #amwriting @midjourney