Sleep Forward, Sleep Better

You’ve got to sleep better

Sleep forward

Put your head up

Get a better pillow

Try to keep your eyes open

Until you can’t anymore

Count backwards

Count forwards

Count sheep

Count ducks

Count whatever you can find

On your ceiling

Sleep sideways

Sleep longways

Sleep far away

From anyone and everyone

Sleep on the floor

On a hardwood floor

With nails scattered around you

And an angry large dog

On a chain

A few feet away

Fear for your life

It’ll help you sleep

Fight for peace and quiet

It’ll help you sleep

Remember how much money you owe

It’ll help you sleep

Open a bag of rice

Throw it on the ground

Count all the grains

See how long it takes

What slows down a vampire

Might put you to sleep

Or it might now

Close your eyes

Open your eyes

Pull your eyes out

They’re not doing you

Any good anyway

Beat your pillow

Beat yourself up

You should have been asleep

Hours ago

Walk out of your bedroom

Walk to your front door

Walk outside into the night

Live a little

Dangerously

A little

More

Dangerously

Go back inside

What are you nuts?
Going outside?
At this hour?

You should be asleep

Turn the heat off

It’s stifling in here

Turn the air down

It’s freezing

Close the windows

Run a bath

Clean out the fridge

Scrub the floors

Scrub the walls

Scrub your computer clean
In case you die tomorrow

Or in case you die tonight

From lack of sleep

Sleep forward, if you can

Push yourself forward

To the edge of the bed

To the edge of your room

To the edge of sanity

See if you can

Feel better

Knowing that hours

Have gone by

While you counted seconds

You can’t call out again

You’ve used up

All your days

And your nights

Are spent going forward

Going back

Losing a little

Getting it back

Thinking it’s here

Knowing it’s not

And it never

Will be

Trying to find what works

What makes it

Better

Trying to find

Something

To count