It has been a very long day. Whenever I get close to a writing deadline, I start working more hours in the day. Why, oh why, don't I invest more hours at the start of the project?! Clocked up far too many today and now my head is thudding and my mind is almost a blank. Which reminds me of a poem ...

This poem was performed at a gig organised as the finale to a Performance Poetry course I attended in 2006. So, I had to learn it by heart - and inject a lot of passion while delivering it to an audience who perhaps weren't expecting me to have written such a tale.

On waking, 7  

Head thudding, mind a blank
The stench of stale smoke
On your breath as you exhale
But don’t open your eyes
Until you realise
Where you are
Where you have been
And who you must thank

Piece together your recent past
One moment at a time
Check for clues
What brings you here?
Then when here is clear
And you have a tight grip
Lift your lids, let sleep slip
To see who is lying next to you

Is it someone you know?
Does he have a name?
And can you remember?
Would you want to see him again?

If the answer is no
Slide out so quietly
Like a slow ray of sunshine
That melts away snow
If the answer is yes
Move ever closer still
Wrap your arms around him
And go in for the kill

I wrote the first On waking (see Blog day 4) never realising that it would become the first of many. To see the intervening ones, visit my website: annerainbow.me.uk