In fact science does not
distinguish between falling asleep
and waking. Scientifically

they are one phenomenon, each
with the capacity to paralyze.
There's rigor mortis

and then the hypnic twitch,
a lyric of imminent collision.
If there's a difference it isn't

empirical. Imagine somewhere
in the aviators’ graveyard—
a billion splinters of glass planes

or the shards of a broken jaw.
What would the mouth say
if it weren't wired shut?

I tripped one day and became
certain as a train making its way
under the riverbed. It was years

before the feeling abated,
when our engine made a sound
I’d never heard before.