The Night Bites

A collective heartbeat of techno, punk, and rock
Throbs against the apartment walls.
Feminine laughter frolics on the patios above.
And lurking behind it,
With wide mouths and lips drawn tight,
A scavenger’s laughter,
Crashes like dishes, sending out shards
To bite at the helpless air.

These are the laughs that keep me awake.    
They swallow mouthfuls of my night.
Hyenas yelling “fuck you” at the moon,
And “take it off” to the gazelle legged girls.
They fight and snarl over the slim
Hours before Sunday morning.

Sunday too is a scavenger,
It crawls up when the others leave.
It picks open my eyelids,
Twists me into my clothes,
And drags me off to work.
I go without a fight, the picked over
Scraps from Saturday night.