By Nathan Hassall
I was told I needed to take pills to make me sleep to make me sleep but unsure I drank
hot milk and burnt my tongue and I never did sleep that week despite counting cows who had
their udders tossed off by a dairy farmer so I tried to sleep I tried to sleep all week
sometimes I shook my box-head and it rattled on the inside and my brothers were snakes
and they said why are you twitching and I told them I no longer dream and I got up at
4.23am and had breakfast and the cornflakes were valium and I went back upstairs and lit a
lavender candle like the doctor said and my head was angry and it’s hard to sleep when
you’re angry and I was told to have a hot bath so I had a warm shower and I could hear my
snake brothers snoring through the walls which reminded me of sleep but my mind doesn’t
sleep standing in a shower so I pulled at my hair and watched it clog the drain and the
steam rushed out of the window and became the rains and all the birds were dying and take
these pills they’ll make you sleep but only take two a week otherwise you’ll get addicted and
there may be some snake effects but it doesn’t matter as you’ll be sleeping and the sleep
effects will make you snake and I grabbed a towel and went to bed and these pills will make me sleep th ey w i l l make me sn a ep th ey wi ll m a ke m e s l ee ke
I lo ve the se f u ck in g thin gs
Nathan Hassall is a lover of poetry. Born and raised in England, he now lives in California with his wife. He takes a holistic approach to poetry, which involves reading, writing, spiritual contemplation practices, bodily movement, and engagement with other forms of expression. He has had work published in the Inflectionist Review, Kent Magazine, Bones: A Journal of Haiku, and a host of other magazines.