Lights Out, Chicago

Jet engines rattle the air over the Kennedy like trains 

in the sky, descending upon the humming fortress of 

O’Hare. The moan of a crawling locomotive, chug-chugging

 through the heart of Pilsen where the twang of a mariachi band 
floats out of bottom-shelf watering holes. Streets throb

 with the quiet of the Gold Coast, swing music whispers 

from a candlelight wine bar to walkers clacking in patent

 leather oxfords. Walls of glass high-rise make the Loop

howl like a wind tunnel. Taxis lay on their horns and squeal

 through red lights where cable cars used to chime. A green

 line train rolls above Lake Street like thunder, reverberating

 through cast iron for miles, rumbling towards the West Side.

 Silence settles around Wrigley Field like a fever. Exhausted

 taps in every pub drip dry and the black waves of 

Lake Michigan thump against concrete shores. Even while a city sleeps, it snores.

 Original poem © K.M. Montgomery