So you would rather be sleepy tomorrow,
says husband. Do not believe
it works that way, not supposed though
do feel sleepy next day perhaps would
rather be. Easier in many ways
can still be productive if that means noticing
lingering slower over each item
as now over old makeup bag
from Clinique from my mother the bag features
butterflies blue and green paint smeared
out of lines resembles self and my
mother. We are that we’re smeared. Not resting
in nature we feed off grace.
I guess this means some people are tired
do not best-function this is a way
of being, I say to my husband, yes would
rather be sleepy tomorrow, implying would rather
than trying to sleep. True in the sense
I am anxious stuck still in that state. Getting
snagged on what one sees. The butterfly
not blue and green just yellow moth saw, pointed
for husband was tired, really do think
worth saying but also distraction from
what is my nature our.
Amanda Auerbach is a poet and literary critic currently based in Maryland. Her book What Need Have We for Such as We was published by C&R Press in 2019, and her poems have appeared in the Paris Review, Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, and Fence.
