Joshua Keiter

I decided long ago
        that this wasn’t
                the real world
of actual existence
        the one where people        
                talk sleep dream
converse with a thousand
        other people
                just by their presence
or when transplanted
        from one place
                to another
they awake to find
        themselves not
                in the same space
they found themselves
        before. That
                place is what I call
actual existence
        that feeling you get
                having tasted
something familiar
        similar to your tongue
                or having awoken
you decide better
        to fall asleep
                with the air
in your arms
        with the thousands of places
                identifiable
by their lack of eyelids
        by the light straining
                through so you know
it’s morning
        so you know you’re not
                missing anything
if you stay there
        another ten minutes
                or so.