“Alarm clocks unset, their tauntssilent. Crystals flashing dire red,as if to warn of seconds thatdwell, of years that fleet.”

“Oh how I enjoy the nightThe still silence is something spiritualCaffeined by the incessant chirping of the cricketsMy thoughts are a waterfall flowing out of the darknessThe cock crows; we sense the dawnI quicken my hand before I burn out at first lightWhat did you create for us?The sun keeps us awake The dead air calls us at nightWhen are we to rest?”

“I fix the cramped, lined pageswith my curious stare. How do youcome to exist?”

“Every man’s insomnia is as different from his neighbor’s as are their daytime hopes and aspirations.”

“Waking up was a daily cruelty, an affront, and she avoided it by not sleeping.”

“Mario, what do you get when you cross an insomniac, an unwilling agnostic and a dyslexic?””I give.””You get someone who stays up all night torturing himself mentally over the question of whether or not there’s a dog.”

“I’ve crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I’ve come to a place I never thought I’d have to come to. And I don’t know how I got here. It’s a strange place. It’s a place where a little harmless dreaming and then some sleepy, early-morning talk has led me into considerations of death and annihilation.”