unbearable lightheadedness of being
overtired
scritchy eyeballs itch
dry though eyelids beat
tick tick the water torture clock
counts hours by increments
until once again I try for sleep
that competes
with a jostling crowd
yammering behind my lids
demanding attention, cooperation
being late, being late, being late
monstrous regulatory ticking
tocking
talk talk talking
measures off my liquid life
boxes it
oppresses the rhythm of day and night
changes of light
go unremarked
my office box prison
as static and comfortably warm
as a deprivation tank
boxed off by dead
lines
time's omnipotent grid
futile to fight this reality
as invisible
as TV's slack-jawed tyranny
imprinted on retinas
to oversleep, unplug, "dysfunctional"
scorn the renegade
who shuns the march
through time's strictures, productivity checkpoints
force compliance
turn away, dock pay
tick talk talk talk.