The Dead of Night

Awake and outside             
among nocturnal animals
something between prey and predator    
roaming
below sky       
another universe             
expanding
a liminal space                 
without transition
lost in a quiet riot
the fluid movement of my parts            
deft in skill
hunting for peace                
caught in a snow globe
going round and round in the dark                  
shaken by fear       
falling past trees            
like bodies or monsters           
encroaching and reaching
restless limbs keep me going          
I remember what
keeps me here                       
insomnia
open windows       
pulsing with snores       
escaping
I won’t make it back by daybreak
wishes bloom                
encouraged by stars
moonlight stains my face           
as I fight back sleep
longing for a creature of comfort
to sit out the night

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TAK Erzinger

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TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Cornell University’s Bien Acompañada, McMaster University’s The Muse, River and South Review, Welter, and more. Her debut chapbook Found: Between the Trees was published by Grey Border Books in 2019, and her 2021 poetry collection At the Foot of the Mountainwon the University of Indianapolis’s Whirling Prize for best nature poetry book. A staff writer for Alebrijes Review, TAK lives in a Swiss valley with her husband and cats.

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