Happy Birthday, Mom

Mary Oliver kept me up last night. I kept seeing her words, not her actual words, but the shapes of her words, in and out of dreams. The cat by my feet, by my legs, by my knees. Not awake enough to rise into the world, but not able to sleep. My body aches when I move.
I’ve been out of practice for a week.
Last night, my mind couldn’t settle on which dream to begin. A forest, a hike, a tattoo, a friend.
It’s 5:30 AM where my mother is and today it’s her 58th birthday.