The Nights
By Sanjana Mahesh
The dreamer sleeps outside, underneath stars
The darkest blue, an ocean unmoving
A thousand years of history written
Ancestors of the past, shining brightly
Endless stories that all ended the same
They are here in a different way now
Floating lanterns unnoticed by daylight
The dark sweeps away the day so cleanly
We sleep in slumber till another ray
can appear to start the daily drama
But for now the fireflies fly in flame
Famous for the peaceful light, they guide us
Other critters and the creepy crawlers
Go right on by unwaveringly
The lawn behind my house brims with quiet
life, the occasional cricket chirping
followed by the annoying froggy croak
I hate frogs so much, they scare me a lot
I don’t understand why I’m so scared
Self-diagnosed ranidaphobia
Have no idea why my fear exists
I have gotten to the point where I just
Burst out crying like a frightened baby
The warts on their bumpy skin, bright colors,
Long tongue, deadly beady eyes stare at me
But worse of all the long legs, always poised
to leap at me and stride way too closely
They need to give me my own private space
And go extinct like the dinosaurs did
Nobody would ever notice or care
The Nights
By Geoffrey Brock
The screamer sleeps, inside.
The desert's wide awake:
the mouse, the rattlesnake.
I've come out here to hide,
behind our house, below
the riddled sky, afraid
of what our bodies made.
To the south: Mexico...
These are the nights men run.
Guaymas before midday,
a beach-town life...I play
it out. Such things are done.
The Rincons seep like a stain
into the paling east.
The borders are policed.
The wail, nearby, of a train.
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