Bed Clothes Poem by Alizon Kiel

I pull them out warm and fragrant
I wrestle with the fabric
Until it lays flesh with the mattress
My face driven into it with a sigh

So inviting
I crawl in welcome
Sounds, people are folded into squares far away
Locked into closets
They were too cold

Warm
I make a tent of my own bending legs
Set up my knees
My feet below them
My toes wiggle free

My grandmother’s toes were always crossed
As if she were permanently going for good luck

I think
Time may have sketched the difference a day makes across my brow
But I can still choose my own luck
My toes wiggle to show me so

Continue to sigh out with every easy in

I will feel safe & invisible & alive

I stretch out everything
Synchronize warmth
Skin and sheet

Small warm place
Is everything we should want anything to be

Clean sheets are pure form
Bed clothes are often joy

Do something simple
Soothing
… and clocks stop