Tell me about your morning

Beyond the orange lid of my eyes  
lies a summer sunrise    
sticky as an egg yoke  
ready to burst    
   
The mountain’s silhouette    
becomes outlined in neon red    
   
Across this distant room  
my cat purrs    
   
In her dreams    
she is once again Egyptian    
a goddess worshiped    
by thin fingers of light  
 through the window  
 stroking her calico fur  
   
Outside, a cacophony of birds  
break the stillness    
  I know each voice by heart  
   
Squirrels scold one another    
  while spiraling around    
  the old pin oak  
and the neighbor’s fan belt  
squeals as it’s forced to move  
  through the neighborhood    
   
Much like my body    
creaking as a stairwell    
  that may fall through    
  any given moment    
   
This is the fingerprint  
of daily aging    
the physicality of wearing out  
and losing value  
   
After years of waking  
imagery becomes embossed    
as braille across the heart    
   
The daily story of us    
is a shroud of experience    
filled with light and debris    
   
Without any further need    
to open our eyes to see  

She woke up in the middle of the night
maybe 4:35 am
she needed to pee
he then got the urge to pee
he waited near the closed bathroom door until she was finished
when she opened the door, he punched her straight into her face
she fell backwards into the shower glass doors
her body fell into the tub
she was cut severely on her leg and torso
blood was all over the shattered glass, tub and bathroom floor
a crime scene has officially happened within seconds
maybe she'll bleed to death, maybe she won't
didn't matter
he knew what he was going to do next
he went to pee and decided to go back to bed

I sit on the porch at 5 am
brewed too-strong caramel pecan coffee

too much cream and sugar
like I prefer it

it's quiet but cars on their way to work
are already disrupting this

I am
a bizarre surge of energy
the caffeine exacerbates

I want to write a poem

shower and put on a long floral dress
do my makeup with utter precision
and feel utterly beautiful

though I am anything but

walk swiftly to the edge of the property
where the sprawling oak meets the country road

wave excitedly at passersby
while the wind whips at my flowing flowery dress

hop in the car and go save animals
and children

something, anything to run away from

this emptiness

that reminds me of who I really am
the anomaly that is me
different from others

though I always wished it were not so

and not deserving of love
or happiness

but something within me stills
even my hands retract

because once a brilliant poet I know
said to let a poem stew for a day or two
even a week

not to manifest oneself too early
though I have never been successful at this

and he publishes prolifically
while at best I am
an accidental poet

so I'll go back to bed
begin again in a few hours

but this time paint myself
slowly and methodically
not splatter myself
upon the world

I only hope
I don't stop breathing in my sleep
and miss out on the chance to do

something truly
and furiously beautiful

with this strange, sad canvas
of a life I was given

Yet again, we meet the day and night
Time runs through me
as everything stops
Nature stops
Wilderness stops
to await the dawn
Here
Now

I open the tent and you’re smiling inside
You ask me if I wanna go swim
I’ve never wanted anything else, I say

In damp sleep
of our warm bed,
I awoke upon
two sweet tasting
morning pillows.

Get up in the morning before the sunrise
 before the alarm goes off
before my eyes even open
I sit there my legs dangling off the bed
Waiting for everything to catch up to my awakened mind.

 Once I can open my eyes
I go get my clothes, put them on
 I go brush my teeth and from there comb my hair.
Put a little liner in my eyes and say in the mirror.
“Another day we got this”

 I go out there and as I go down the elevator
Do a little prayer that I make it home that day.
 Because the city has gone back to wild, wild west, and I am just armed with a spray.
Go to work to help those who need the help and those who don't.

 I get angry eyes
 I get sad eyes
I get wails and tears
 I get hugs and there are times I have to give a hug.
 Even though I just don't have my light to give that day.

 At the end of the day.
 I look at everybody with a smile and wish them safe travels.
 I trudge my way right back through the wild, wild west.

I hope with all the crowds and the noise
someone doesn't decide that I'm just a perfect target.
To either snatch, cut, or shoot because the city is not always safe, but it is my home.

I walk from the train to my home
 go back on the elevator.
Hope, I don't get stuck to be rescued by the fire department yet again
 
Go through the door lock it
  That's my day