Poetry: STAR-KARTING

I

By night
the raptors
high in the palm-lined
air
are deep
in their pre-sleep rituals
chirping their
regrets
and resolutions
the city lights twinkle their
approval
from afar and
overhead
the sky is a blacktop
upon which stars
zoom along
careening so fast they seem
suspended
pointy go-karts trailing
cosmic dust in their wake

II
in the afterglow
of a late
afternoon squall
and
a steamy tempest
of our own making
you rest
your head on my
chest
and feel the ever-flowing
circuitry om y still-flushed
heart
the maddening rush of
intimacy and contentment as we
share new secrets
and inwardly mourn the
dying
of the day's light
signalling
an end
to the reverie and a return
to the anxious
and uncaring
world

III
Mystery moon pushes
 against late evening
clouds
already spent
and the damp hilly
air
while insufficient to
keep dogs alert
is as invigorating as
the throaty wail
of Nina doing
"My Way"
as comforting as
 the Duke's tinkling
keys
as reaffirming as
Trane's urgent call
to action
words pass like
comets
as the sprawling
bejewelled capital and
the spartan heights assert
their respective
philosophies
your eyes
easily surpass them both
as love
stronger than
the overproof rum
subdues my
reasoning
and the perfect meal
obliterates it