Nocturnal Symphony
by Dee Allen
During the sweltering months
In the East Bay,
The night contains its own music.
The most talented singers ever assembled
Stay hidden in the grass.
Thank those ink-black
Insects that hop, bulbous faces down
In burrows amidst green blades
Springing from fecund soil, rubbing
Hind-wings together to communicate,
Croon to the female of the species
Within close range, for the melody.
Countless cricket serenades
Merge as one big
Assemblage of rhythmic chirping, one big
Nocturnal symphony, call to mating, one soothing'
Aural treat for our ears—
During a hot September in Oakland,
The most talented singers of all
Send their song to the night
And to the human world
Sound asleep.
Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, CA. He has been active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. Five books (Boneyard, Unwritten Law" Stormwater, and "keletal Black, all from POOR Press, and from Conviction 2 Change Publishing, "Elohi Unitsi" ] and 38 anthology appearances [ including "Your Golden Sun Still Shines", "Rise", "Extreme", 'The Land Lives Forever", "Civil Liberties United", "Colossus: Home", "2020: The Year That Changed America", "Geography Is Irrelevant" from York, England's own Stairwell Books, "Five Words: Volume XIV" from West Cork, Ireland's O' Bheal and the newest from Flower Song Press, created in connection with the 2021 Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, "Boundless" ] under his figurative belt so far.