Sleep intoxication

Sleep Intoxication

Inside:

I drink my sleep
In big waves
Of weightless
Thirst

Random lovers
Strap themselves in;
Along for the ride
Inside my skull

The future recoils
The past lurches forward;
Present backing into memory
Of things that never were

Brilliant imaginings
Outlandish happenings
My head is a womb
For short-lived living.

Outside:

An occasional
Roll of thunder
Or the barest
Impression of sound —

Paws pressing into the duvet
A traversing of the perimeter
A nose twitching at the outpost
Of my awakening.