Night Repurposed

“Insomnia IV” by Jeffrey Batchelor

 

the quotidian cough

that punctuates

sleeplessness

soundscape for

verses emergent

from years in the smoke

of combustible passion

the inhale and exhale

of words in their work

to acquire a burnished

poetic patina

indulged by the taste

of their metaphor

labored of breath

but accustomed to

unquiet habits of hours

long since repurposed

given over to making

a literate noise