world spent
i crawled out of a tunnel today
the glare of the sun scorched my tongue
my eyes became tasteless an' sore
even boredom deserted me
loneliness coerced an impulse,
i picked up the newspaper and found it empty
like a trash bin after pickup
the morning's errands tripped me in a blind spot
the lid blew off my patience
aching my muscles an' making my head spin
my nerves twitched an' made me reckless
almost got killed in a near accident
mortality extorted me,
i peered deep into the depths of time
using my mind, ignoring my schedule
its lack of bliss held my breath hostage
when fear tried to wake me
from what i thought was sleep
an e mail informed me it was real
a need for calm promised relief;
i tried to relive what i had dreamed
in deja vu six hours ago
a package arrived at the door
its contents required assembly
my fingers were still stiff
from work on yesterday's hammering
the package slipped,
something broke inside
i read somewhere that four diseases were cured this year
on page nine, i read ten more were newly discovered
out of control, a threat to humanity
but science would prevail
a great chunk of my hope melted
like global warming's glaciers
i caught a frozen glimpse of where i'd fall
for the last time;
i stumbled across the floor
and tried to find myself in the broken mirror
a piece of me shot me a fragmented look
that's all it took
for me to to crawl back to bed