13 Ways Poem

13 Ways of Falling Asleep

I

Tufts of wool take a running jump

Clear the wooden slats and fall gently to the soft, sweet grass

II

Thin and cool, sliding up your nostrils like water after chewing mint gum

Warmed to 96.8 degrees

Whistling out like steam from a tea kettle

III

The clatter of clean dishes

Voices clanking against each other and shattering

Into the pillow

IV

The arctic tundra is desolate

The night is dark

Not a sound is heard

(Except for the drone of the narrator

And the air conditioning)

V

A baby, swaddled too loosely in sleep

Stretches its limbs and rolls side to side

Looking for something it cannot find

VI

Sound and color flowing and ebbing in the mind

Through a hollow shell

The echo of a pulse resounds

VII

The inside of an airplane

The lights flicker

Ears pop

A jolt as turbulence hits

We fly higher

VIII

Liquid fire sears my tongue

Wait ten minutes

A metamorphosis occurs

Golden and warmly soothing

It spills

IX

Rocking back and forth

Swimming across solid ground away from the edge of a precipice

Against the current

Butterflies circle my head

X

Paper glows warmly in soft light

The clock advances

I close my eyes, awake

XI

A field of threads tickles bare feet

A sheet of ice scorches them

And then my knees in squares