10.2.18

sometimes I can't tell
 
if it's homesickness
 
or nausea
 
keeping me up
 
or maybe just
 
the abrupt door slam
 
jolting me back to reality
 
just as I was drifting
 
into the peaceful void of
 
blank nothingness
 
or else
 
dreams, probably

if it's homesickness
 
my heart hurts
 
for those places I've been alone
 
and been adopted by some
 
vicarious, circus family
 
the trip to Montana
 
in Spain
 
the time at Cobalt
 
just last week
 
with 4,700 family members
 
I didn't know I had yet
 
in high school
 
when the adoption by
 
seniors filled that unknown
 
void I had

these times I took
 
to know a new place
 
a new people
 
and they offered to
 
love me back
 
homesickness

if it's nausea
 
maybe I'd just hoped
 
to beat it to sleep
 
before the air in my chest
 
bubbled up
 
and asked me to sit up
 
and asked me to think again
 
maybe I'd just hoped
 
to rest without being ready
 
to catch myself off guard
 
to wake up refreshed
 
tricking it this one time

these times I waste
 
to debate my state
 
and worry the ache away
 
only to drift
 
further and further
 
awake

sometimes I can't tell