Next door a rooster inscribes

his cry on the living cosmos.

Overnight my hair has become

a nest of aluminum foil

to short out government broadcasts

intended to singe my brain.

I dreamed of taking the bus

to the Bronx and getting lost

among tall brick apartments

that observed me with disdain.

A plump and eager woman

came along to sing to me

in rooster cries so metallic

they scorched me stupid enough

to lose my bus fare and strand

myself in a neighborhood facing

the Hudson River, steamy

with summer evening mist.

The plump woman abandoned me

and I awoke in a dazzle of stars.

Today a thunderstorm will bulk

the horizon and threaten me

with a personal thrust of lightning

straight out of the Aeneid.

My aluminum hair will draw

more voltage than the Hoover Dam

generates with massive turbines.

The government will broadcast

news of my illumination,

which will gratify the Vatican.

The plump woman will rise from

her own dream of the Bronx

and try to remember the name

of that fellow she met on the bus.

Before the thunder unfolds

I’ll shower, shave, and breakfast

in tones so muted the rooster

will go back to sleep, and maybe

the oncoming storm will greet

my humble stance with pity.