Sleep Journal

The story that needs to be told
is the one recited in his sleep. 
He wants to carry it into the day
but its words won’t wake with him. 

Now when he speaks, it sounds
like a cracked bell, and the doors
he opens ache on their hinges,
an echo diminishing, the trace 

of a road erased from a map. 
When he asks for directions, 
they always lead to where the rain
drives its nails into the ground.

MICHAEL T. YOUNG

Michael T. Young’s fourth full-length collection, Mountain Climbing a River, will be published by Broadstone Media in late 2025. His third book, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and honorable mention for the 2022 New Jersey Poets Prize. His poetry has been featured on The Writer’s Almanac.