Sarah Kay says she writes poetry to work things out. I think this is true for a lot of poets. I certainly know it's true for me. I also like that she talks about coming to the end of a poem and suddenly realizing what it has been about. Turns out this little guy was about working through some of my anxieties about the toll my nocturnal habits and writerly/academic tendencies take or could take on my relationships.

Fluorescent Light

You are in the other room
in the bed that I call
mine
or ours
or yours
for you sleep there more than I do
while I sit here
bathed in fluorescent light
writing

You say it is all right
that when darkness comes
my mind retreats
to places
you cannot go
but I can sense the strain
as I sit here
bathed in fluorescent light
writing

I know the day will come
when you will grow tired of waiting
tired of sleeping
alone
in my bed
and so you will leave
and I will sit here
bathed in fluorescent light
writing

-- Bree Keeler, 2012