HOW SHE KNOWS A GOOD DAY BEFORE SHE SEES ONE

It's right where she left it,
the sparse map she eked out
just before this last scrape
from dry sleep into dry wake.

She inches towards
the sere wobble of its script,
bent and magnified
within the nightstand’s clutter
of evaporating water glasses.

take dtr to school
cash unemplymt chk
call Dr re: side effects
order meds
buy bottled water (three cases)
call insur. co. (nap 1st!!!)

She will sift and slog herself
through this thick parch of lithium,

see past hollowed-open ground-down skulls
to mirages or green trees

because she already wrote down
where to look, this day.
 

Copyright 1999, Mary Krane Derr
 

Mary Krane Derr's work has appeared recently in such magazines as Pudding, Lilliput Review, Sacred Journey, Poet, and Journal of Poetry Therapy.