Dropout

cold sweats
heart pounding
wide awake
early morning
can’t sleep

you decide
these nightmares need to end.

but your subconscious
disagrees
in its own
subtle-as-a-kick-in-the-teeth
sort of way.

tomorrow is another day,
another nightmare
to wake up from.

in class they all stare at you
because aren’t you a little too
poor
to be in college?

that’s when you wake up
and that’s when you decide
these nightmares need to end
but dreams weren’t meant for
dropouts
like you

so tomorrow it’s back
to the

cold sweats
heart pounding
wide awake
early morning
can’t sleep
won’t sleep
ever again.