Nocturne

my neighbor walks so loud upstairs
i know it's purposeful
he knocks on the floor in threes
he walks on his hands upstairs
a perfect handstand  
my head is upstairs
just my head, heavy with my neighbor's shoes
my neighbor walks in my head,
taking steps only in threes
i remember my uncle who told
me that one summer he decided 
he would stay up for as many days
as possible
he last three
i see my uncle as a boy who walks 
in my head and also walks upstairs
i see my uncle who stands
in the corner of my room for three days 
all the days in one night
and tells me to stay up with him
tells me to keep him company
i never asked him what happened
past three days 
i stand on my bed which 
makes me feel tall
i walk on my bed, back and forth
and there are no neighbors below
me but i wish there were
so they could hear me
so that i could be like
my neighbor walking upstairs 
in my head 
my head walks upstairs
with shoes on 
dressy shoes that i don't own
they sound leather brown
they sound heavy like hooves
my neighbor has hooves
and walks upstairs in my head 
and i have hooves 
but i just stand up
and decide that at nigh there
is nothing else in the world
other than neighbors
and i walk on the ceiling
of my head so that he can
know what it feels like
to feel so full of heads 
and full of walking
and full of not sleep
my uncle puts his hands over
his eyes
shakes his head 
i tell him that it's time
for the both of us 
to get some rest but
he says he needs to keep going
says that his neighbors
are living right behind
his eyes 
and he opens them
and i see their silhouettes
men with heavy shoes 
maybe they're my neighbors too
maybe i made him stay up
all those days
and i tell him that i don't
want to try to sleep anymore tonight
that i'm scared to try 
because that just makes everything louder
my head stomping in my neighbor 
my neighbor rolling back and forth
like a bowling ball
his body gone heavy and smooth 
across someone else's hardwood floor
i tell my uncle he should
sleep and he tells me that he won't
not until i do
and i say not until my neighbor does
so we make him stand with us
on my bed where the mattress 
muffles his heavy shoes  
and he can walk in my head 
without so much noise