“Unrecorded Night” (2022) By Rachel Sumner
I have been fighting the good fight
But each unrecorded night
Still tangles up my mind
I’m haunted by these gaps of time
And the things that I forgot

Mornings I stumbled, spent
Collecting evidence
Braved through what I heard
Though all I have are strangers’ words
And some hazy scattered scenes
A play of half-forgotten dreams

And all of those friends 
I thought I made
While I was unafraid
While I was unafraid
Were bolstered by the booze
A buddy only in the 
Bruising black of night
By barroom candle light
Recalling all our sad luck blues

I had grown weary of the well 
And the work it took to waste myself
Too numb to stir awake
Too weak to own my own mistakes
I could not break my graceless fall
By staying out after last call

And all of those friends 
I thought I made
While we were unafraid
While we were unafraid
Were chasing down a muse
From spirits with a top-shelf view 
In spite of nothing coming 
To us but the worst
We tried to quench our thirst
For something that was new

I know I’m never far
From slipping back 
Into my hole of hopeless habits
Time and time alone
Can ease desire 
Into a soft and steady static
It’s only static
It’s only