"Look," I tell her at 4 a.m., "I need sleep,"
the muse rolls her eyes in disgust--I say,
"I've had a damn notebook tucked beneath my bed
since I was 14, and where were you then, huh?
I wrote this poem and I'll write another,
with or without you--I created you,"
I fairly shouted, "and I can take you down."

It can take a lifetime to recover
from the effects of achieving
a terminal degree.