the coffee
isn’t working
as i stumble
around the
hotel room trying
to be sure
everything is
in the black duffel
i read all night
as the strange
ambient noises
jittered oddly
in the corners
of the room
the mini fridge
howling constantly
a mournful spirit
unacknowledged in
the small cubby
beneath the televsion
i meant to turn on
the one cup
coffee maker had
a work out as i
began brewing cups
at three thirty
restless phantoms
don’t need sleep
just to be ignored
or treated as the
nuisance we are
insubstantial and
easily brushed off
only recognized
out of boredom
then quickly
forgotten again
rattling chains for
the attention defecit
making concentration
all but impossible
one last call here
in filthy austin
before three more
silent hours on
the road back to dallas
where i know the
silences intimately
and my skin suit
can be discarded
to luxuriate in
my own tepid darkness