After Midnight

By Louis Simpson 1923–2012 Louis Simpson

The dark streets are deserted,

With only a drugstore glowing

Softly, like a sleeping body;

With one white, naked bulb

In the back, that shines

On suicides and abortions.

Who lives in these dark houses?

I am suddenly aware

I might live here myself.

The garage man returns

And puts the change in my hand,

Counting the singles carefully.

Louis Simpson, “After Midnight” from The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems 1940-2001. Copyright © 2003 by Louis Simpson. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

Source: Collected Poems (BOA Editions Ltd., 1988)

Biography

Poet, editor, translator, and critic Louis Simpson was born in 1923, in Jamaica, to Scottish and Russian parents. A contemporary of Confessional poets like Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and Sylvia Plath, Simpson’s early work followed a familiar arc. In the New York Times Book Review, critic David Orr noted its highlights: “Simpson has followed a path lined with signposts sunk so deep in our nation's poetic terra firma that . . .

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