A Brief Explanation as to Why I Don’t Sleep at Night (Another Insomnia Poem)

I nail my long-dead influences 

and my aging fluencies 

to the bathroom wall 

in case there are snakes

in the toilet after dark.

[LSS, 10/15/22]

Daily Report

The morning sun rises,

breathing fire over the smoke

of the Bolt Creek fire.

We breathe each other’s breath,

recirculating a still-indistinct 

longing for a different kind 

of fire. One brother’s pyre,

then another’s, and another's, 

and me still here, waiting.  

{LSS, 10/15/22]