Jet Lag and Other Things That Keep You Up at Night

Jet Lag and Other Things That Keep You Up at Night

Yet another city starts to feel
like it can never be home

A diamond haze hangs over this one

Houses sleep
like loose-limbed children
Windows yawn darkness
like the monsters in their dreams

I shake out half-told stories
from strewn boxes
put them on shelves

Maybe the night will listen
if others' windows do not scream

The city smells of year-end
cotton wicks burning
ashiver in the night air
Firecracker smoke
Promises never made
And deadlines slipped past

The leaves are half-orange by streetlight
half-ink against night sky

Somewhere you sleep or wake or drive
Somewhere maybe a small town awaits us
But the roads are all mirages by day
Liquid by night
They lead nowhere

The city spills its secrets
Like blood on the streets
Like wine on the floor

I keep mine

Until beggars wake the dawn
Monsters scurry like rats
and tired stories
travelled across continents
go back to sleep

as birds change their song.