“into that world inverted
where left is always right,
where the shadows are really the body,
where we stay awake all night” – ‘Insomnia’ by Elizabeth Bishop
You know that feeling right before you fall asleep,
when liquid time floats your body in drifting
seas of semi-conscious paradigm
into that world inverted
by the senses? A mirror world where hours slow and quicken,
the mind loose and mutable as water.
A space where the mind’s eye is blind,
where left is always right
and everything’s identical qualitatively
but reverse like light through a pinhole.
The self does not matter or maybe too much,
where the shadows are really the body
and you’re there/not-there all at once.
A too-fast mind scattering thoughts like bright stars
through vertiginous skies. Brain interprets, distorts,
where we stay awake all night.
Thoughts from an Iridescent Starfish 