Noise

What is that noise?
As if to torment me,
Mysteriously up
From the basement,
Sounds of lovers cooing
In a child’s chalk drawing.

Or a light pole at the edge
Of an unplowed field
Humming on prom night.
An unnamed noise,
Unfamiliar and vexing.
It was late.

In other parts of
The world it was early.
The basement would be
Damp, and void of light.
Dark rain outside,
Stars in blackface makeup.

Perhaps it's my guardian
Angel, up from the gutter,
Heating a can of soup
Over a black candle?
A funicular railway
Taking a man into the heavens,

Using his houndstooth jacket
As a tourniquet
For his sick heart,
Trying to read his love’s palm
In the tram window
From the slap print on his face?