TV gunning down
the hours
serves as sheriff
in a room
where one yawn
triggers off another,

sends time scuffling
into night.
Wars slugged out
on vacant lots
sign an armistice
with sleep.

Turned to a wall,
the children dream
and the moon pulls up
in a squad car.

—Colette Inez

Rights & Access

From The Woman Who Loved Worms, 1991.
Carnegie Mellon University Press.

Copyright © 1972, 1991 by Colette Inez. Used by permission of the author.

  • Colette Inez

    Colette Inez (1931-2018) published 10 poetry collections, including The Woman Who Loved Worms (Doubleday, 1972), and a memoir, The Secret of M. Dulong (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005). Her papers can now be accessed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

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