The City that Never Sleeps

Your neighbor blasts his base and

the insistent thumping confuses your dreams.

That person across the alley sings opera

that should be beautiful,

but instead sounds like that Halloween decoration

that scared the shit out of your little sister in 1995.

The Coca-Cola delivery truck rolls by at 4 AM

and blasts its horn,

but is the driver really at fault?  

You know he would rather be sleeping.

It’s the screaming sober man,

the stumbling, wasted woman screeching,

and the haunting witch opera mixed with the base

that sing, ever so loudly,

“Welcome to the city that never sleeps.”