You are composed
of how many stories?

If your answer is six or more,
I despair for you.

If your answer is three to six,
I worry for you.

If you say two,
I will remember you.

If you say one,
I will embrace you.

If you say you do not know,
if you say you are made of none,

I will tell you: you are One.
I will turn you to your First Blank Page

and say, write it here.
Somehow tell that One

as soon as you can,
as clearly as you can,

something depends on it,
something close and dark and dear.

Once in a while 
I have blood in my mouth
upon awakening.
It’s good for you, I tell myself.
Full of iron.  

And once in a while
I have a blocked right ear upon
awakening.  It’s good for you,
I tell myself, it’s telling you
to focus more on what your heart
has to say.  

Now and then
the left side of my left foot 
has no feeling.  Now and then
I have a long lasting pain
across my upper lungs.  Now and then
I roll out of bed in the middle of the night
four or five times to piss; it’s not even an event 
worht noting anymore.

It’s good for you, good for you, good for you,
I tell myself,  it means your body is getting too old
to fuss over and fix.  Pretty soon you’ll be Pure Mind
and ready to let go.  Think of these disturbances
as the clarions
of a new path.  

Now and then, I ask myself
who I’m talking to.
It’s good for you, I respond,
not to be completely sure
of the sources the little voices call upon. 
Not to know what’s a truth and what’s a 
delusion.  Which pains are killing pains
and which are the clarions of a new path
or how many are both.  

I tell myself
relax, it’s natural;

it’s all good for you,
it’s all good.

Inside, something shouts
Awake!  
You rise,

run to the bathroom
without stepping on the cat.
Then, feed the cat.  Then back to bed.

Good job brain and all
associated organs!  But let’s be
honest:  how lovely

was that sudden moment of first waking
where you didn’t know your own name
or recall your own limits?  Where

instead of peeing and serving
you might have flown, or vanished —
but then you knew who you were

and what was expected of you
and you did just fine.  You got
shit done.  Good job, brain.