Recently, I was looking at old contributor copies of magazines and came across a little poem I still quite like. That is a nice feeling, and I know I use this phrase a lot, but it really is like coming across an old friend by surprise. And why is it that those early morning inspirations always happen on the days you did not have to get out of bed early?

Waking Early

…

You will learn to write legibly

in your sleep, in the charcoal

gold light filtering through

your blinds, letting you see

a page like a window lit

by a parking lot. You will lie

there, you will tap sleepy

fingers over the floor to read

where your pen has rolled, over

the page to see what it has

to tell you. Your empty hand paces

like a guide dog to keep you

moving in straight lines. Each letter,

each word, you must know

by feel: the T like cheekbones,

the O like lips. You will teach

yourself the alphabet’s mnemonics,

learn to read aloud with your hands.

…

Spilecki, Susan. “Waking Early.” Byline June 1999: 18.