love can't decide

if i'm a woman or a girl

i hold my own hands and splash 

water on my face.

HEART

called me out

into the thick august air

a child insomniac

laying wide awake

in the driveway

under sticky rice paper stars

at three a.m.

at four

at five, and then

i am eye level with the orange sliced horizon

i am the lone audience 

to the great sparrow sing-a-long.

i sneak back into the house

i flip through a graphic medical journal 

until my eyes begin to ache

A CHILD INSOMNIAC