Sleeping by Neil Ellman

          (after the painting by Phillip Guston)

In the morning
when the birds begin
their dawn chatter
and conversations
with the light and rising sun
a shadow puppet
hiding behind a cloud
my smoke-ring dreams
will fade and dissipate       
after still another night
spent, not on sleep,
but squandered
on half-lit cigarettes
empty coffee cups
lined up like sheep
and visions of a life
more imagined than real.

If only I could
cover my head
with blankets
of forget-me-nots
and in the darkness
know the sleep
that others know
and make me feel
as I once did.



Neil Ellman, a poet from New Jersey, has published numerous poems, more than 1,000 of which are ekphrastic, in print and online journals, anthologies and chapbooks throughout the world. He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net.