Before An Alarm
I am abraided at five AM
to another sung summoning
of loud bird light beyond
my night-bared sash panes –
but was thankfully deaf
in those dark hours earlier
to returning songs of drunks
on their way back from clubs
with their waved polystyrene
trophies of spilling chips –
that mayonnaise trail of fun
runs drip-drip-dripped away
Let me slip from this long itch
and find release from stiffness –
as it was in my lost night
of splendent working dreams
Instead – only a cooling rinse
under that wide shower head
and then a return to this bed
and cold emollient for my skin