John Burgess

Go ahead & crow rooster

Go ahead & crow rooster—but we’re not getting
Out of bed today—you can insist with your
Alarmist horning—but we’re not letting
Love leave these downy sheets—no—your
Banter won’t rouse these hearts—we
Don’t care that 2 blocks east Aurora waits
Or that sun’s interrogation will soon be
Unblocked from mountains’ shadows—gates
Of dawn flung open—your cock-a-doodle-do—
Your manly cackle—won’t open our eyes
To any such glare—so do what you have to do—
But we won’t stop dreaming—we will not rise—
Your morning can turn to noon,
We ’re waiting for the moon.

 

John Burgess grew up in upstate New York and has lived in Montana, Japan, and, since 1985, Seattle. His poems have appeared in King County Poetry & Art on Buses, PoetsWest Literary Journal, Portland’s Gumball Poetry Project, 4th Street in Olympia, Snow Monkey, and Pontoon No. 6.

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