Night Work

So already, if you have experienced loss of any kind, you know that nighttime can be difficult and that sleep can be anything but peaceful. But night work is therapeutic--even writing about it is. Since I finished the poem below, I've noticed more sunlight than shadow when day breaks.

The title of the poem below is linked to a VoiceThread--if you click on the link, you'll find an arrow at the bottom left of the screen; by clicking on that arrow, you will be able to hear me read the poem below. But at the bottom of this post, beneath the poem, you may be able to play it directly by clicking on the arrow.* Thanks to Janet Walden in my writing group for encouraging me to record myself reading this poem--and for giving me the opportunity to spend this afternoon reclaiming my VoiceThread skills, on which I depended so much while teaching poetry as a high school English teacher.*

I hope you enjoy "Night Work."

Those highway signs announcing 

“Road Work 11 PM to 5 AM”— 

Flash for me.

 

When my head hits the pillow 

My feet hit the road— 

As if gadding the globe

 

Will help me find you— 

One of you gone, 

The other on a different plane.

 

And so I dream of airports, 

Pulsing crossroads that erase 

Distances in time and space 

 

And ease encounter 

Between those who never thought 

To meet or meet again. 

 

In one dream, I fret and sputter 

As the line limps 

Toward the ticket counter.

 

Finally, it’s my turn. But when 

The agent asks my destination, 

I stand mute and baffled.

 

In another, you’re having breakfast-- 

I spot you from a moving walkway 

Carrying me away from you.

 

I rush forward, double back, 

Slicing through the sluggish crowd 

To reach your table--

 

But when I do, you’re gone.  

Not a coffee cup remains 

To prove you’ve been there.

 

First light finds my window,  

My sadness crouched beneath the sill. 

And I wake weary--5:00 AM.

 

  

 

* VoiceThread is an amazing tool for allowing students to build understanding and love of poetry by exchanging ideas, feelings, and impressions as they read and listen almost casually. I loved finding my former students' old VoiceThreads still present on my account page, just waiting for me to return to them someday--today! I used it in a most limited way here, choosing to speak the words of the poem in connection with one image only.