I tilted my head back
and breathed
through the blanket of sky
that covered my face

So many stars...
(not the Hollywood kind
that I see on TV,
but real stars)
the kind that you only see
on the clearest fall night
just outside civilization...
(the kind I'd forgotten
to notice all summer long)

and it wasn't a god
that told me to
bring my chin to the sky

and it wasn't a drug
that inspired me to
appreciate nature's
twinkling exhalation

it was simply the crick in my neck.

09/27/2005