I awake and open my eyes lying sideways on the bed

digital numbers tell things I don’t want to know

muted sounds seep under doorsills…around window frames

tell me more

things I don’t want to know but

will anyway

I remember my life; looking at it like a child looks at a new toy

unaware how to play with it, not knowing which button to push

knowing it is to be played with; I push buttons

I push and I pull tabs

slide switches and replace batteries

shake it listening for internal noise, for what makes “it” what it is

The old life, hung up in a closet

or was it simply tossed on the floor?

lost its impact, its shine, its memories and faded

the color drained by the sun of time…and now;

a new life all spic and span and…just new…untried, untested…

with different buttons,

switches

and

tabs,

different noise when shook

try it out, try it on, run in it, laugh, cry, wander the city, get it dirty, wash it off

damage it and watch it repair itself

a new life all comfy and cozy

strange fitting in places but

adapting inside

seeing newly from here to the outside world,

different, not good or bad

different

poked, prodded and pulled

I stand up from bed, from sleeping too long

digital numbers don’t tell nearly half the story

I look forward

to those things I don’t want to know and the sounds

once muted,

fuzzy and seeping through cracks in the shell of my house

I hear

and want to hear more and more and more…

…buttons,

switches,

tabs;

all await

being pushed

slid

pulled and…

a new life

awaits

as I wake up.