Rob Schackne #14 - The World Is Bad, Let Me Sleep

The World Is Bad, Let Me Sleep


From the cosmos to the sea
the Great Barrier Reef
is the size of Japan or Italy
our nearest star closer than
the nearest human heart
stretched from you to me

I once tied a life around my neck
with the tensile strength of spider silk
after meditation upon the aggregates
and form was returning to nothingness
I rested my case, I drew the curtains
the world was bad I said, let me sleep

Dreams rattle the door before the fall
when the spider spins a web of matter
for the bangles of the ten-thousand arms
when your cell dream becomes your alarm
back to the greed and jealousy and envy
so tough shit, the world is bad, let me sleep

Are you reading Levine's poem about the kids
of factory fodder someplace in a hell town
people we know would've loved and hoped
and said it's good poetry to draw a curtain
against too much knowledge of what's to come
the world is bad, it starts to rain, let me sleep.