a Youth hostel bunk bed trio
of strangers
in the heart of the Tenderloin,
one passive aggressive Frenchman
a homeless guy with garbage
bags for boots,
and a ballet dancer all
spoke in nervous
stutters,
coming and going
from the loud city
exploding outside
in all directions

The garbage bag feet
kicked the walls furiously
in the pitch black
the Frenchman got up
and consulted his 
French-English manual

“You sleep…”

his eyes bulging with rage

“…noisy…”

~ Noisy
~ Kevin Ridgeway is a writer from Southern California. Recent work has appeared in Underground Voices, Thunderclap! Magazine and Red Fez.