This is a great, thoughtful piece that captures for me the workings and realities of what drives us into spookyland. imaginings, to which I am so inclined, speak for a lot of us poets. The leaves with St. Vitus Dance is a brilliant line.

1. Pakistani-American novelist
ZULFIQAR GHOSE
Born: March 13, 1935, Sialkot
A novelist, poet, short-story writer,
autobiographer, essayist, and literary critic’
A Master of Language and Style
Satire and Irony in His Novels
Died: June 30, 2022, Austin, Texas, United States

2. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 1
2
20XX
For the second time these last twelve months a neighbour
has summoned an ambulance on a dark, humid night.
A t first I've though t the distant siren as usual o f some
emergency across the valley and imagine d an accident
in which a ma n driving home late from a bar has crossed
the grassy media n and plunged into an oncoming truck,

3. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 2
3
20XX
or young boys in a Jeep , bee r cans in hand and shouting
along with thumping rock music , have lost control
at an unexpectedly sharp bend in the road , for these
are the morning-paper headlines telling o f a night's
disasters as on e pours skimmed milk in a measure d
portion o f granola and reads of unnecessary deaths;

4. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 3
4
20XX
but then the neighbourhood dogs begin to howl
as if the siren, very loud now, stabbed their ears,
and I run out an d see the elm tree lit u p by approaching
headlights an d the n the whole front yar d illuminated .
F o r a second the whit e light dazzles, then alternate red
a n d blue flashes make me fling a hand across my eyes.

5. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 4
5
20XX
The ambulance is slowing down approaching my house .
The first time it came I stood behind a photini a hedge
I'd trimmed an d fertilized in the spring to make it grow
protectively thick and watched the paramedic s walk u p
to the neighbour's front doo r like late dinner guests.
They remained inside a long time an d I waited in my garden ,

6. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 5
6
20XX
the continuously flashing beams of the ambulance
making the front o f my house a stage where electricians
tested a lighting effect before a performance . A paramedic
returned to the ambulance and wheeled a stretcher
to the house just as I' d once seen in the same driveway
the UPS man wheel a large package to the door.

7. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 6
7
20XX
But this second time I watch two paramedic s
go inside the next neighbour's house , return to the ambulance
and then back to the house , repeatedly, thrice .
They walk with heads bowed like I've seen county tax
appraisers do , walking out o f their whit e utility van parked
in the street, going to a house to settle a question of value.

8. ZULFIQAR GHOSE
DISTURBED
NIGHTS 7
8
20XX
They haven't yet come out for the stretcher. I should go in .
The ambulance is parked right across from my drive
and the flashing red an d blue beams hurt my eyes;
but I stay outside , taking up a stand behind the photinia hedge ,
a n d wait to see if the paramedics when next they come out
will no t just drive away, but it's a long , tense wait.

9. A SUFFERED MIND MAKES A RESTLESS PILLOW.
THANK OU
Presentation Title 9