The New Routine Poem by RIC BASTASA

dinner at six pm
blackout comes at 7
so we sleep as early as that time
and with nothing to do
we make love in the dark
and too tired
we oversleep till 5 the next morning
when electricity resumes

we sleep without air-conditioning
pre-conditioned now
to this long lasting emergency situation

i content myself to the sound of silence

some chirping birds sometimes
and crowing cocks at dawn
and screaming chickens landing
on the ground