At 5:00 a.m., he sat back down at the typewriter. He pulled out the half-finished poem and crumpled it. Then he put in a fresh sheet. The paper was yellowed, soft with age, like a dead man’s skin. He rolled it into place. He stared at the blank space.
“See?” he mumbled to the empty room. “Even the pests give up.” At 5:00 a
He stopped. The sun was a rumor behind the buildings. A garbage truck groaned in the distance. Life was starting again. The terrible machinery of morning. Showers. Coffee. Lies. Handshakes. He hated all of it. At 5:00 a.m.