Kept awake tonight by a
jackhammer down the street.

What energy does it radiate,
in invisible concentric circles,
out into the darkness,
down the street and the sidewalk,
the foundation and the floor,
shaking my bed,
rattling my eyelids, maybe
keeping everyone else in
the neighborhood awake, too.

There’s frustration, for sure,
in the sleep deprivation part,
but there’s also something
remarkable happening.
Arbitrary, brilliant organisms,
swirling with matter and
infinitesimally small vibrations,
bound together in harmony,
physically and emotionally,
by a larger, unifying vibration
(i.e., jackhammer)
that will never again
repeat itself in this
exact way.

There’s always the opportunity
for alternate interpretations;
it just takes more work than the knee-jerk.
It’s rewarding, though, or
at least that’s what I tell myself

kept awake tonight by a
jackhammer down the street.