*

in the dark basement

searching    to hide

    I am naked

    mouth open

    mute

I wake in 

wet sweat

 

*

 

an unpaved road

dusty as Baghdad,

    who chases me

    I’m clothed 

    search for help—

    a bus, store, a car

there is no

door to open

 

*

 

often my cries 

soundless, others not

    on a weekend with friends 

    the four of us happy

    that night I called 

    called out, woke 

all of us, my companions

cheered me on 

 

*

 

as I descended into

water, I felt the weight

of a child tied to me

    I reconciled myself

    to drowning but as I

    emerge, I sleepwalk

    along the pier, boats

still dredging for us,

lost hope—the scene

closes without me, weeping