insomnia

She swills down her bitter nightcap,
puts marshmallows in her ears,
against the streetlamps screaming white noise
at her shining trails of tears.

She sprinkles every dream with pepper
to sneeze them all away forever
ands prays

abrakedabra
for a wooden ladder,

soft as ink,
she climbs up it to sleep.

Shes climbs until the lamps stop talking
about the price of guillotines,
she cuts the cords and they lose power,
she lets their metal hearts freeze over and the buzz subsides.

she finds a bed as warm as candelight.
The wind under the bridges is now as soft as horses.
Her chest gently falls and rises

Her eyelashes shut on sleeping bombs
that wait to blow the fuses from the stars.