From the Poetry collection "Compared to What"

© 1997 by Gracie C. McKeever

60 minutes before the alarm
when pure sleep
is nine dreams
deep
hours after
the neighbors
have exhausted the airwaves
with unneighborly sounds
gangsta rap and
mariachi
wails of city-owned
vehicles
over-worked employees
at their helms
babe's a-whinin'
hound dogs a-howlin'
birds a-chirpin'
rooster's a-crowin'
planes a-flying'
traffic copters a-hoverin'
iron horse a-pullin'
over beside below outside
Richter scale serenade
rainfall pattering panes
right cerebellum crying out
full bladder screaming
for release
thieves in the night
even the blackout
shades can't stop
the dawn invasion
of your
space

(Previously Published in Street News 1997)