I Can’t Sleep

I can't sleep

I haven't been able to sleep

for six

seven months now

so long I've lost track.

I used to lay in bed

frozen stiff with anxiety

that ungrips out of sheer exhaustion

just briefly

at dawn.

I went to a doctor

who told me

staying in bed without sleeping

exacerbates the problem

he said get up

read a book, write a poem

and sleep would come upon me

all on its own.

It did not happen that way.

So each night

I sit alone in my nightshirt

and watch today become yesterday

tommorow today

and still

I can't sleep.