nature’s LOUDEST force

nature’s LOUDEST force

after

surviving on five hours

between midnight study procrastination

and endless debate prep

and grinding derivatives and

Spanish conjugations

and iambic pentameter until my

brain leaks through my ears

I am a CHAMPION of sleep-

snoozing through every calculus class

drooling during English

dreaming through drum lines and

band marches and

entire pep rallies of teenage SCREAMING

(once slept through a fire drill

while the teacher had to shake me awake

while the alarms screamed overhead-

guess that’s what three days of

four-hour nights will do)

collapse

into the library’s sacred quiet zone

hidden in some cubby hole

in the deepest corner where

even breathing feels too loud

and there i drift past consciousness

through fluorescent lights that

should keep me wide awake

and always fail to do so

(i’ve slept through like 6 assemblies in a row)

peace

at

last