The Dead of Night
They
wait and shiver,
at the
rear of the taco stand,
hoping to
beg
a leftover meal.
They
tread
carefully
so as
not to piss off the
night manager.
When he finally
appears,
like Moses in the desert,
They
bow their heads,
submissively
and
religiously,
waiting
for scraps of food
like
a
dog.
But too
soon
the protective police,
shoo them
away
or
worse.
So
these hungry
throwaway people,
move
back into the
darkness.
They will
return
later
in the
dead of the night,
to retrieve
their
rotting dinner
from a
slimy
garbage can.
John Zurn has earned an M.A. in English from Western Illinois University and spent much of his career as a school teacher. In addition, John has worked at several developmental training centers, where he taught employment readiness skills to mentally challenged teenagers and adults. Now retired, he continues to write and publish poems and stories and recently has had two stories published by cc&d magazine, poems published with FreeXpresSion magazine and a play published by Off the Wall Plays. As one of seven children, his experiences growing up continue to help inspire his art and influence his life.
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