City Nocturne Poem by Steven Federle

'Where there is no peace, there is no light.' Thomas Merton. Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work


I dwell in city nights
hear cars cruising
down streets
streaming confusion
whispering,
boulevards of light
stunted lanes,
high-
wire siren, stunned
shot-
finders, tense
dispatchers rolling
black and whites,
ambulance
coroner's wagon
while laughing,
from theatre emerging,
from restaurant and bar
unaware, we swarm
through rivers of blood
to black cars, crush
of silent plush
power windows up
lock the doors
and slowly drive
through those
shimmering
terrible,
beautiful
streets.