Renee Grasso

I’m Awake

First I sat in the dark

and wondered.

I touched all the wrong parts

and I just wondered.

Then I knelt

torso tilting up

oil on my hands

thinking images, images.

Finally I lay

hands closed and harnessed

engulfed in cold sheets

one eye on the door

I found it

And it was truly a cascade

it was indeed a rush

I did feel it in my toes.

In all my years writing

in all my years reading

in all my years living

this was the most poetic thing I’d done

And now

instead of praying before I sleep

I do this.


Renee Grasso is a sophomore at Binghamton University majoring in Finance. In her free time, she likes to read novels, rewatch Jane the Virgin, and attempt to run on the treadmill for more than ten minutes. She is from Queens, New York.