Incubus

Sweat
creeps
down
my
spine

Frantic                     writhing                       tangles
the sheetaround
my restless form

the voice
in the back
of my mind
whispering
laughing
tormenting

every night the same
my bloodshot eyes
tell my story
to the unconcerned
faces in my daytime life

love me
feel me
taste me
you are mine
forever

Hunched over keys and screen, I pound out words to keep my eyes from closing. Riding random links, taking in pointless information, chatting with virtual people who know me better than my friends, my family, me. They know me through the words; the blinking cursor is my voice.

you cannot hide
the silence
will not last
I am here
I will always
be here

Flashes   
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get              your               degree            online             in          less      than     six     weeks
Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

psssst

11:30 turns to 1:55
in one blink
sore neck
numb feet
chin on the back of the chair

nice try

not even concentrated effort
keeps the lids apart
once upon a time I could stay up three days straight

still here

lights out
socksjeansbra lost somewhere
between the living room
and the bed
alarm set
collapse

IFeelTheEyes
SuffocatingMe
AWeightOnMy
ChestCaCaCant
BreBreBreathe

hello, love 

fingers mouth tongue biting sucking searching
 
did you miss me
 
his body is everywherealloverme
 
I missed you 

sweating kneading licking pushing
 
my love my love
 
Stopstopstopstopstop!
my real life is fine now
you don’t exist
my insanity
was just
a vivid dream
 
is it?

are you sure

i’m still here

bipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbipbip

reaching blindly for the silence
 
5:50
 
ten more minutes
 
a quick nap
 
still tired
 
restless night
 
 
 
I smile at the sun as I lay out the children’s clothes
and kiss my husband as he walks in the door after
working eleven to seven.
 
Walking through the door at work, I greet my friends
before pouring a cup of coffee and starting on the pile
of papers waiting for me. Life is good.

but I am still here
 
you are mine
 
I will always be here
 
my love

Sherri Craig teaches composition, argument, and research, as well as world literature. While she always incorporates zombies and comics into her composition classes, sometimes she teaches entire courses about them. For the past ten years, she has been an academic guest panelist and lecturer at a number of gulf south fan conventions such as: Wizard World New Orleans, CONtraflow, and Pensacon, hosted and lectured at events for Banned Books Week and Will Eisner Week in conjunction with Sims Memorial Library, and presented her students’ visual narrative work for Common Read Day. When she’s not teaching and grading papers, she serves as faculty advisor for the Xi Rho Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta and the Southeastern Creative Writers group and works on the Freshman Advisory Committee. In her spare time, she writes poetry, creates visual verse, and edits and letters comics for Charisma Kills Studios.