1. We Sleep Tomorrow

coruscation | as a feature of light | against rocking water

the broken shells of oysters | we cannot see | the way

you look at me | as if | wondering whether we run or

sprint | to the next step | in the wonder of our life

your laughter | as the breaking of vowels | across space

the tiny tingle of your voice | as the happiness takes you

over | the moderation of these splintering sounds | from

high to low | an angel of speech | my ear slows to listen

you sleep beside me | while I lie awake and thinking | and

sometimes a voice comes | out of your dream | leaving me

awake beside your dreamworld | but | without a way in

when I slip into dream | mine | do not wander into yours

the particular shape of your | Gallic nose | the low-hulled

crescents of your fingernails | and those of your toes

my hand moving down | the soft hair behind your head

how your legs | grow invisible hairs | only you can see

me | whatever it is a person | represents itself as

if I could perceive as you | and wait | to work out what

it seems to you I am | I might understand | why

I sleep | on my back | and gasp for air in the night’s dark

if I could | dream

I would | dream of

a one who | only was

the you | I need

to sleep | beside you

still | if I could

choose | a dream

it would | be you

the nights | for me

are short | and soon

the nights | for thee

are longer | still

and so | dreams break

when I enter | into

our room | at night

to rest | by you

and thus | I say

with grace | and will

that I | must stay

beside | you | still

we sleep | by the water we sleep | over the harbor | we

sleep beside the Hudson | we sleep beneath an array

of stars we cannot ever see | we sleep in the darkness

we sleep in the night | we sleep through | our dreams

and awake | so high up | we awake beside sunlight

tomorrow asks a little less | of us | than today | because

we do not understand | what it is | how it will become

today | without even telling us | how it was yesterday

without | letting us understand | what happened with

this time? | how did we get here? | how did we ever?

as you sleep | I write | as you breathe | I write | as

a man | in love with ancient moonlight | who writes

alone this night | nearly beside you | always with you

whispering | only when you are dreaming | the few

words I have left to let loose | my way to win you

tomorrow | or keep you | safe | within this shattering

world | every day another collapse | every night another

smothering | of a person gone airless | and I do not

remember much of my life | or the days’ ravages upon us

not today | not yesterday | but I remember tomorrow