2 poems — Ace Boggess
Winter Morning
leaves rustle in chill wind
deep-
throated winter birds
that sing in whispers
snow on the ground
not everywhere
hints
like a woman in a partly revealing dress
the road empty of all but ghosts
of travelers
***
Unable to Sleep at 4 a.m.
the first dream in weeks pays its extorted toll &
in it I am the horror
assassin sci-fi samurai slaughtering
the alien in the alien
landscape of this videogame
blood like a parasite slithers through my chest
I must not snack before bedtime
I must not read Camus
the darkness before darkness comes
sings like burning timber in my head
so sleep murders itself this night
I slip on shoes & jacket
go outside to smoke
go inside to make coffee
nighttime mocks cajoles scatters salt everywhere
as if to test the old wound
yet even without rest there is no restlessness
I cannot sleep but enjoy it more than I endure it
I even pause to watch
the snow pasted to a table out front
it does nothing never moves
my forehead touches window glass
my breathing slows
I have learned how to rest with my eyes
***
Ace Boggess is the author of two books of poetry: The Prisoners (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled (Highwire Press, 2003. His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, Atlanta Review, RATTLE, River Styx, Southern Humanities Review and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.