Some nights

 

are so bad, I am sure my heart
will writhe a path
through my body, my skin
is not my own: me, trying to walk
these dreams without rhythm, you
ready to kill me
for spice.

 

 

Donna Spruijt-Metz is a poet, translator, and Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her first career was as a professional flutist. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in venues such as Vinyl, Occulum, Naugatuck River Review, Juked and Poetry Northwest. She gets restless.