Sleep by Gary Grossman

isn't easy, the white slap
of fear hits just when I
slide from dusk into night.

I was 12, Mom unwakable.
Pills strewn across furrowed
sheets, black buds amidst the dunes.

Now, falling asleep has the
coppery taste of oncoming
headlights, closing in my lane.

I flinch

and hold the covers tight.

Gary Grossman is Professor of Animal Ecology at the University of Georgia. His poems have appeared in 23 reviews -- most recently -- Verse-Virtual, Poetry Life and Times, Trouvaille Review, Poetry Superhighway and Last Stanza Poetry Review. His bio can be found at www.garygrossman.net and work at https://garydavidgrossman.medium.com/.