Donna Steiner lets us know “What Insomniacs Do in Bed” in her poem in The Healing Muse. Steiner touches on those heightened moments in the middle of the night, when the rest of the world seems muted. She admires much, including “the under-valued texture of flannel sheets” and “the capacity of our aging lungs.” She notices the absence of all sorts of things, including “of rain, of drizzle, of shower…” Steiner wonders about “germs and mites and viruses, and whether they multiply right now,” a vivid recognition of what those of us up at ungodly hours imagine.

Over the past two decades I’ve often been awake in the middle of the night, occasionally due to insomnia but more frequently because of medical work or motherhood, nursing my own babe or delivering a new life into the world in the pale hours of almost-morning. Steiner issues a call to accept the gift of repetition, that it is a “form of education.” Perhaps the most significant to the insomniac is the “merciful repetition of daybreak.”

Writing Prompt: Have you suffered from insomnia? Does Steiner’s poem resonate with you? What do you do when you’re up at night and no one else is? If you’ve been up in the middle of the night for another reason (residency, parenting), what did you notice about being awake when the rest of the world is sleeping? Write for 10 minutes.