by Sandra Salinas Newton
I once looked forward
To waking up
Turning to find you
Sometimes awake
And watching me uncurl from sleep
Your hand stealing its way
To my hip
A quiet morning now bursting
To promise of a dazzling hour.
Today I wake up
Keep my eyes shut
Against the day
Cling to the dream’s
Tattered edges that
Hang limp and find no breeze
Burned away by an unwanted sun
In a screaming-blue sky.
I would prefer to stay
In that old and tired dream
Despite its agèd negligence:
For there you are still beside me
Waiting for me to open my eyes
So you can wrap me with your body
And enjoy my sleepy smile.
Sandra Salinas Newton is a Professor Emeritus of English at Naugatuck Valley Community College. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Apricity Magazine, Evening Street Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, OPEN: Journal of Arts and Letters, Vita Brevis, and several others. She earned her B.A. from The City College of New York, her M.A. from Hunter College, and her Ph.D. from Fordham University.
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