Inspiration Through Simplicity

Sitting in my quiet house
With a cigarette burning
And pen in hand
I feel uninspired

With the urge to write
Tugging at my brain.
Yet still there's nothing
Of much substance

Coming to me.
All I hear is the relentless
Barking of the neighbor's dog.
It never stops and I wonder

What it is that has excited him.
And, beyond that,
I hear the wailing
Of a police siren.

It sounds like it's emanating
From around 8th Street---
It's equally annoying as the
Continuing barking of the dog.

But as I inspect the idea---
Toss it around in my head---
Maybe they both are saying something,
Etching a story, important or not,

Into the annals of time.
Perhaps the dog is telling me
How annoyed he is by the alleycat
That keeps teasing him

From the other side of the fence.
Or maybe he's speaking of how
He would love to run alongside
They young boy pedaling his bicycle

Down the wet sidewalk in the
Last rays of sunlight.
And maybe the police siren
Is laying forth it's own

Story of waning importance
About a domestic dispute
Or someone robbing the liquor store---
Or even a homicide near the train tracks.

I suppose it could even be
That they are only speaking
Back and forth to one another,
Their voices meaningless and

Completely devoid of all the
Intellectual importance that
I'm trying to give them.
It's very possible that

The police siren is nothing more
Than the pursuit of someone speeding
Their vehicle down main street,
And the piercing sound of it all

Is what's caused the dog to
Bark in the first place.
Nonetheless, they speak for the present
While I aimlessly ponder the future.