This poem is one in a series I began writing over 20 years ago, "The Breakwater Poems." These poems -- and "Breakwater, Napping" in particular -- chronicle my treasured and sometimes tortured time in the car when my three small children slept in the backseat for a short period every day. I looked forward to this suspended sense of quiet, moments to think (and sometimes to write) from the front seat of our beat-up minivan.

Cindy Milwe is a writer and teacher who lives in Venice, CA with her husband and three children. For the last 25 years, her work has been published in many journals and magazines, and has been widely anthologized. Her first full-length collection, *Salvage*, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022.

I: @cindymilwe
F: CindyMilwe