After an Overnight Shift

I recently read The Good Hand by Michael Smith. The memoir of a man who decided to take advantage of the boom times in the oil fields of North Dakota. It proved not as easy as he thought. Being a 24/7 operation, the various jobs demanded workers on the graveyard shift. A connection I could relate to.

After an Overnight Shift

Exhaustion

dogs my bed,

drags me from the sweet

flowing waters of oblivion,

grabs the muscles in my legs

with pointed incisors,

hauls me back to the shore

of dayshine where sleep

vanishes like water vapor,

leaving me to listen 

to garbage grinders,

back-up beeps, and barking

dogs down the street.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor