Wake up at 4 AM.
Check email.
So many from
people I don’t know.

Overwhelmed,
bombarded by
questions that emerge
from unfamiliar places.

Memories from
somewhere in my past.
Not sure why they emerge
at 4 AM.

The sleep meds
doctors prescribed
create more anxiety than
I started out with.

The healers I began
to trust now reveal
a different side:
billing.

I get a call,
someone from my past,  
who I called
years ago.

Decided yesterday
to return call.
They report life is good 
then hang up. Why bother? 

Too late to put
the pieces together.
Memories, dreams,
nightmares.

Life is shifting .
Much of what was
familiar changed.
People move on.

Neighbor’s kid,
age five, knocked on
a neighbor’s door
to announce

that she wishes
they would move
because she wants
their apartment.

 

Janet Cormier is a painter, writes prose and poetry, and performs comedy. Janet prefers different and original over pretty. She loves collecting stuff, but cleaning not so much. Janet also talks to strangers. A lot. Her column appears weekly on Oddball Magazine.