At night

At night
The restless itch
pillow flip
side switch
of sleeplessness
on expired beds

At night
TV static
shrill sirens
rusty crickets
never silence

At night
Anansi mathematicians
spin silk constellations
waiting for an audience

At night
Swallows and vampires
turn into bats
pigeons into rats

At night
Sugar bells
of rainbow ice cream trucks
putrefy
into sewer soup
of rattling garbage trucks

At night
Banging bottle and can collection
shopping cart procession
dumpster diving
drunk driving

At night
Drag races’
streak smoke
clouds
street corner
drag queen illusions
clears delusions

At night
Sunken-eyes
hollow faces
aggressive hands
desperate affections
orgasmic salvation
in XXX
ammonia video stores

At night
Shadows find
pleasure
relief
in dark parks
lose footing
on loose cobblestone
midnight paths
lose
sight
keys
lives
meet knives

At night
Church bells’
hourly tolls
stop

Doors double barrel lock

Triggers cock

Gunshots’
Sean Bell death tolls
ring around the clock

At night
Wallets become guns
at front door firing ranges

Bachelor parties are target practice

Police are heroes?

Widows live nightmares
every day

At night
80 shots
of state hate
murder
sleeping revolutionaries
dreaming of Fred Hampton, Jr.
never gonna see his future

At night
Chased by hate
no longer
running for his life
Michael a speed bump
on the Belt Parkway
Michael Griffith
Michael Sandy

At night
Dream lives
crushed
by wrong number phone calls
answered by suicide

At night
Christmas tree light fires
Laboratory Underwritten

Christmas eve evictions
Landlord unforgiven

Christmas eve gifts
given to your children
pawned by mommy
Christmas night
for daddy’s addiction

At night
Tie ‘em up lynchings

Burning cross
racist crucifixions

Baptist church
arson ignitions

At night
Light-less electricity curfew
enforced by holy war terrorists
out-shined by
determined Gaza candles

At night
Seven-day candle siege
kneel and pray
refugees need more than
matchsticks and wicks
to make light

Just enough
light
life
faith
to last through sunrise

At night
Swamp crawler
liberation conductor
Harriet Tubman
in sunless cloak
found light in the North Star

Just enough
light
life
faith
to last beyond sunrise

Spiders weave new stories every night