Insomniami
The neon burns a hole in the night
and the Freon burns a hole in the sky
—Dessa
All night darkness
constructs its unquestioning citadel
of intrusive thoughts
*
if you listen closely
you can hear
the rising waters whispers
if you cover your ears
you’ll hear it too
*
trapped in the seashell of night
*
chase the echo
to its origin
*
a useless lullaby
a rythme replacing
the unticking
digital clocks
counting my sleeplessness
in silence
*
the shapelessness of waves
a watery sleep paralysis
gripping the city
*
the high water mark
is reaching for the sky
and getting there
*
new high rises rise
every day like shark teeth
a fire sale
get it while it’s hot
get that land
while it’s still land
*
the world is burning you know
*
all night you can hear them
building another goddamn stadium
while tearing down the house
around you as you sleep
*
enough empty seats
for the displaced
an uncheering home crowd
longing for home
*
enough hollow condos
for everyone
but it’s important
that they stay empty
they won’t say why
*
hurricanes come through
like tourists
and suddenly
there are less homeless people
their names lost
to the larger one
of christened chaos
*
night is a rosary of unanswered hours
*
count them
count them
count them
*
sometimes I’m grateful
for the light pollution
the smug stars
think they know everything
but their slow knowledge
is always late with its light
*
still
I consult the disdainful
horoscope to see what
they promise to promise
*
Miami is obviously
a leo
(look it up)
*
a drowning fire sign
pride pretending everything
is fine
I mean come on
*
a backwards place
you can’t blame everything
on the Bermuda Triangle
but you can try
*
swimming birds
and flying fish
burrowing owls
night sky
reflected in the water
becoming confused
a broth of clouds and corals
*
octopus conspire against us
limbed-brains learning
from our mistakes
our heirs
come too soon
*
certainly
they’ll do better
with this city
than we did
*
this city
with its history of hurricanes
and fraud
*
one day
the neon
will burn out
and then what
*
sun rises
like rent
*
sun rises
like a flag
*
sun rises
like the ocean
*
I can’t sleep
but the city I love
can’t wake up
Copyright © 2021 by Ariel Francisco. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 24, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.