At 68, uninterrupted sleep’s an ancient scroll—last week I woke up at two AM, breath racing from running up three flights of stairs to avoid the spectral tsunami soaking floors one and two; looking down at the havoc outside, cars swirling like small pieces of kelp tossed by surf, people running from that insatiably line-dancing wall of saltwater—these images were not random, like some dreams, but decade-old simulacra stacked like bowls on my back shelf of memory. Relics of televised helicopter footage: 2011 tsunami flowing over Sukiuso, Japan, stealing our after-dinner glow, transfixing us and our hosts, Hamish and Abby in Dunedin, New Zealand; and two days ago, my eyes opened at 3:42 AM, my brain straining at how I would rescue my oldest from the dystopian universe of “The Upside Down,” a believable fantasy freak-show put forth by our current streaming service; and of course, there’s the occasional pipe dream of involuntary infidelity with the blond coed in reverse cowgirl. When you’re 68, the future is as uncertain as avocados ripening, worries are legion, and true rest elusive. Kids healthy? Climate change? Sea-level rise? Runaway inflation? A complete night’s sleep, an endangered species that went extinct sometime in the last century—but sometimes I just have to pee.

Gary Grossman

is Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology at University of Georgia. For 10 years he wrote the “Ask Dr. Trout” column for American Angler. His poetry is published in 37 literary reviews, including Verse-Virtual, Your Daily Poem, Poetry Life and Times, Poetica, Trouvaille Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Poetry Superhighway, Muddy River Poetry Review, The Knot, Delta Poetry Review, and Delta Poetry Review, among others. His creative nonfiction appears in Tamarind Literary Magazine; and his short fiction, in MacQueen’s Quinterly, which nominated his microfiction “Mindfulness” for The Best Small Fictions 2023 anthology.

His first book of poems, Lyrical Years, is available from Kelsay Press, and his graphic novel, My Life in Fish: One Scientist’s Journey, is available from http://www.garygrossman.net/my-life-in-fish-one-scientists-journey/. Hobbies include running, music, fishing, and gardening.

Author’s website: www.garygrossman.net

And his writing blog: https://garydavidgrossman.medium.com/