Bedtime Snacking

         I stand on a narrow strip, a lip.

         My arms flail, I tense, I inhale.

         Breath held, pulse pounds, toes clench, peer 'round.

         Sense of an arc, a hole, a bowl?

         Teeter, totter, hitch, glitch, slip, pitch

         down, down I drop, tumble, fumble.

         In cool milk I crash, splash and thrash,

         gasp, shake, grab a cereal flake.

         Adrift in this pool, I swirl, twirl.

         Alone, remote, I puzzle, float.

         Giant puddle, brain a'muddle.

         Life raft sinks, splutter, heart flutters.

         Choke, cough, wheeze on my knees

         I awake, headache, near my bed.

         Shards of wet glass shattered, scattered.

         Nightmare dregs crushed under my legs.

( 16 lines )