San Francisco Nightsong, circa 1998

Night, fog sings
erasing rooftops and distance
like a mute on a whole tone.
Night,
Night, it whispers
contrapuntal to the choiring
of internal combustion and
the clicktap, clicktap of high heels on asphalt.

Niiiiight, hums neon and halogen,
fluorescent and filament,
illuminating hooker, commuter, consumer,
consumed.
Night, beg the hungry cockroach
and the dizzy moth,
nightnight, coo the gulls and pigeons.

Oh...night, sigh shops and warehouses,
closing yawning doors and
dropping shades like eyelids.
Night now,
Night.