A breath of air when I’m suffocating.
A drink of water when I’m thirsty.
A bit of bread when I’m hungry.
Sleep when I’m weary.
Company when I’m lonely.
PROMPT: 5 Everyday Things
1
Tag Archives: sleep
24/7 Wakeup Call [Lyric Poem]
In a mountain village,
the roosters crow all day.
Hopes of mid-day napping
are dashed along the way.
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BOOK: “Fight Ready” by Santino DeFranco
Fight Ready: An MMA Coach’s Guide to Losing Weight, Getting Strong, and Kicking Ass by Santino DeFrancoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher site –St. Martin’s
Release Date: May 19, 2026
MMA fighter turned coach, Santino DeFranco, offers an insightful and pragmatic overview of the process of getting one’s body shipshape, including: getting sleep, dealing with injuries, strength and conditioning practices, nutrition, and more. The book attempts to be of broad appeal, not just relevant to MMA and other competitive fighters, but to athletes of other sports and non-athletes as well. It was not clear to me that the book achieves said broad appeal. One of the most fascinating and engaging chapters dealt with the process of cutting weight, an activity that applies to few outside weight-graded combative sports. (And an activity which the author, with the pragmatic approach that makes the book so useful, attempts to dissuade general readers from attempting.) The book does discuss the calories-in-and-calories-out basics of nutrition in a more generally relevant manner, as well. And there is certainly wisdom to be gleaned for the non-fighter, but, overall, I don’t know that this would be a good book to send a person toward if they were a typically unathletic person trying to lose a few pounds and be in better shape. (Though I do acknowledge a sort of aspirational motivation that a book might have for such readers, particularly UFC fans.) [And it’s completely out of my wheelhouse to know how generally applicable strength and conditioning approaches are for completely different sports, but I can’t help but have doubts.]
That said, I did come across many thought-provoking tidbits of wisdom in this book. The author is clearly one prone to look to the science and established best practices and to challenge the fad-laden fitness influencers and not dive headlong into the trend du jour. The book uses stories and anecdotes to increase the book’s readability and relatability. Here I’d say the results are mixed, but the aforementioned Tracy Cortez weight cut story is one example of when it is done very well.
If you’re curious about the training life of professional fighters and are looking for a few health and fitness concepts you might apply in your own life, I’d highly recommend this book.
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Nightmare Hotel [Free Verse]
The image was hung on the wall
in an otherwise clean and well-
managed business hotel.
I can't really say that I'd ever had
that particular nightmare before
I checked into the room,
But I know I've had it many times
since.
Set atop a post on a brutal white
sand beach in a stifling burlap
onesie -- a onesie that one
would have to have been sewn into,
for it had no zippers, buckles,
buttons, or Velcro.
What was the nightmare?
To be seen, while not seeing?
Suffocating slowly -- held under
the high tide with waterlogged
cloth clinging to my face?
Arms pinioned as the seabirds
went to work on tearing through
cloth and skin in as few
vicious pecks as possible --
pristine white growing
blood crimson stains,
running down the pole,
dripping onto the sand.
All of the above?
I never have a good memory of it.
That's why I'm not sure that I
didn't have the nightmare
even before I ever saw that
poster on the wall of an
ordinary hotel -- far, far
from home.
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Bird on a Wire [Haiku]
a bird alights
onto a windswept wire;
then seems to doze.
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White Tiger [Lyric Poem]
The White Tiger is very cute,
napping in its white tiger suit.
But while awake, is hard to take:
Is it nonconformist, or fake?
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PROMPT: Dream Job
I’m afraid I’d be damn near unemployable in the world of dreams. If I’m not running from something or falling down, my teeth are falling out. (I certainly couldn’t get anyone to provide decent dental coverage in dream world, and I’d be suspected of Meth addiction.) Unlike the real world, in which I’m hyper-punctual, in dreams I’m always late and I often go out of doors to find myself on the other side of the world. Besides, in dreams I’m usually not lucid more than once a month, at best.
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PROMPT: Night or Morning
Morning. Whether I want to be or not.
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PROMPT: This Evening
What are you doing this evening?
Who can know such things? I’m not a fortuneteller. But as I just came off a travel cycle, a betting person would put his money on something sleep related.
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PROMPT: Relax
Tai Chi, Chai Tea, the usual suspects.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 