Sleepwalking through the heart-attacks of midlife. The staccato, eight-hour thrum of seizures. Dark rooms with boiling water. Bloodshot eyes watching steam whorls by starlight. A tiny drizzle of sleep as gray begins to stain the windows. Daydreams of a mundane youth. Hippocampal blood pressure. Jasmine naps in the dirty shade of triple digit afternoons. A repeat of emptiness through the entirety of my forties.

4:24 p.m. - 2021-07-21