Lightning Bugs By August Kleinzahler

A cruel word at eventide

and night zips up

like a spider’s retreat.

Go back to your febrile

needlework.

We shall not

be chasing lightning bugs

in the tall grass tonight.

Put the whiskey on the shelf

and let us speak calmly

of money.

From “Live From the Hong Kong Nile Club” by August Kleinzahler (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 86 pp., $15 paper)