Sleep Backward Peels
and all sleep is backward moving
as if walking backward into
wakefulness and all sleep being
backward sleep peels away the rind
of day that builds itself up each
new day around the body heart
and mind the way a starling jawworks with backward muscles that spring
the bill open rather than clamp
it shut so sleep is a springing
open and not a clamping shut
a peeling open of the fruit
of the day’s labor the day’s wide
forward-moving unawake work