City Night Poem by M. Richard Smith

Watching shadows
through the moonless night,
catching only glimpses
in the light of passing cars.
The pounding of the ground
beneath my calloused feet,
echoes incomplete
through my existence.

A distant siren sings,
making music in my ears
and sending visions,
somewhat clear, in my
subconsciousness.

Scenes of love,
neglected and abused
and of children dressed
in tattered clothes,
with soiled hands
and messy faces,
eating from a can
of cold soup,
while Mommy
turns a trick
and chases dragons
on the other side of town.

A dog is barking,
not without distinction,
and I wonder what it really means,
what I should be thinking,
when a woman screams in
rhythmic ecstasy, that she

CAN’T
TAKE
ANOTHER
MINUTE
OF
HIS
LOVE!

Soon, gunshots ringing near
incite the fears of my reality
and the haste of my escape.
Then curtly so,
the bitter taste of silence
reverberates
against the thickness
of the sultry
city night.