Last Night

Last Night

The night went on for days it seemed,

though not this time from weathering

a whipping existential easterly 

while tethered to a pillow case,

or even drowning in the racket

from an overnight construction 

of reality as loud as Billy’s roofers 

down the street. No, it started more  

unheralded, when right at 10:00 I came 

to find I hadn’t done the many things

that needed doing, and feeling suddenly

my inability to meet the undefined criteria,

french-pressed myself a little blend

I could have guaranteed was advertised

as having no caffeine. I worked a bit

to pacify this sense of falling short,

till falling short I utterly abandoned

ship and floundered to the living room

to watch an episode of Selling Sunset, 

a show I genuinely had no interest

in if other than to keep my mind

distracted from the painful burning in 

my heart—it comes from drinking coffee

late at night, that’s if we’re speaking literally