K. Jared Hosein (1986 / Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies.)

A flitter-flutter of hummingbirds along the petal-scallops bloom,
A minuet of keskidees on my morn-bough,
A ching-chime of an electronic alarm clock
Resounding through my room.

Behind all the overlapping, whimsical talkings on the street,
An engine sputter in time with a sidewalkjazz-player,
The clocks tick-tocking in the clock store
And the children chanting
Jump-rope songs to the beat.

The click-ticking of stiletto heels on concrete,
The lovers wailing for each other from their bed,
The barbershop quartet singing along
To a song they heard a day before
On the radio beat.

On my long walk home, a Generation X
Screaming muddle-medley words to W, Y and Z.
Star-gods in a flicker-sonnet of silence
As I hop back into bed
After an owl hoots a slow lullaby my way,
I wonder where I would be
Without the soundtrack of my Saturday.