Caedmon’s Call

By his verse the minds of many were often excited
to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.
-St. Bede

Beth, I hear you calling, but I can’t come home right now.
-Kiss

My friend says he can’t write anymore
Unless his heart’s been kicked. He means
By a woman, and he’s old enough to know
The costumes they wear and the ways
They call to us in dreams. Their dissonance

Drives the night trains, their sirens,
Their whistles, their two-footed poetry,
Signaling what is and what should be.
Then they leave us alone, expecting us
To choose, to sleep, to live.