{"id":4674,"date":"2024-08-12T04:44:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T04:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=4674"},"modified":"2025-01-01T17:50:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T17:50:48","slug":"late-night","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-5-winter-2024-2025\/late-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Syed Ali Zaidi<\/em><\/h4>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Late Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dime store is open at midnight,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

filled with destitutes and dilettantes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The store clerk lights another one of his cheap<\/span><\/p>\n

cigarettes from the war. The flame<\/span><\/p>\n

reminds him of a house fire that claimed the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

lives of five children and a bandit who maintained,<\/span><\/p>\n

till his last days, that he was the rightful heir to a\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

European fortune. In the corner of the store, young\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

college men make backdoor deals for small\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

tabs of faulty psychedelics. Outside, at the end of their night <\/span><\/p>\n

shift, <\/span>a congregation\u00a0<\/span>of sad clowns, smelling\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of rotten tobacco, places bets on old horses that<\/span><\/p>\n

never win. Across the street, you wait for a taxicab that<\/span><\/p>\n

does not arrive. Your silhouette, the only sign of life in a<\/span><\/p>\n

neighborhood of lonely souls. I am here with you,<\/span><\/p>\n

to whisper into your small, delicate ears, to remind you\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

that it won\u2019t always be like this.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Midnight (Tonight, my war is over)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The air gets cooler and I can no longer<\/span><\/p>\n

dream. Outside my window, a magician\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

gone mad delivers a sermon to be heard\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

by no one. Inside my room, total silence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only sound, a patrol car going up and<\/span><\/p>\n

down the street like a fleeing vagrant. The<\/span><\/p>\n

mirror is dark and my face is gone. On my desk,<\/span><\/p>\n

the page is getting darker and I can no longer see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Above it, hangs a picture of a young boy with his\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

eyes fastened by pins. Downstairs, the war brides<\/span><\/p>\n

are playing Russian roulette. If I listen carefully,<\/span><\/p>\n

I can still hear my grandfather sitting silently in his\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

rocking chair writing letters to the dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Syed Ali Zaidi<\/strong> is from Monroe Township, New Jersey. He is a political science major and a creative writing minor. He graduated in May 2024, and his favorite poets include Charles Simic, Franz Wright, and Philip Levine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syed Ali Zaidi   Late Night   The dime store is open at midnight,\u00a0 filled with destitutes and dilettantes. 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