What a difference eight hours of sleep makes
whole long day of fitful rest just slipping away
and then you realize all along you’ve been right
there in the zone doing it all so fit just in spite
Your fatigued self lying down in the darkness
of lidded eyes staring up at your very own flesh
dazzling darkness and the exploding fireballs
flickers in this vast expanding bright universe
We sense all along really is always right there
for us, surrounding us, holding us up and up
supporting us in our every motion & moment
effortlessly, independently, expertly, complete
Crying out into the empty epi-center of it all
how much! how much! how many times, more!
James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.