Eclectic hour of waking

given meaning by

daily schedules

alarm clocks

traffic jams

Called forth sleeper from slumber:

the world claims you, defines the hours of your breathing.

Things line themselves up

begging for completion.

Cacophony of demands.

Screaming voices in the mind.

A new count of the hours begins.

Much as the last counting —

these moments so disturbing

define the truth after your dreaming.

Marissa Mullins, written December 2000