The quiet is thick here at night,
the sea stays put
and the forest has stopped rustling.
My kids are asleep
and I should clean up the cabin
but instead I put on my coat
and stand on the deck.
I tell my mind
as if we are two
see how peaceful it is out here
and I look up at the stars
trying to leash my thoughts
to one of those grains of light.
But my mind rebels,
refusing to consider the sky,
darting around,
making up poems
about the city,
metal and dirty and loud.