(excerpt)

9 p.m. in Brooklyn, New York

The vroom and shush of traffic

outside the bedroom window

while Mama turns the pages

of a sleeptime tale.

9 p.m. in Brooklyn, New York, is...

***

10 p.m. in Puerto Rico

Sweet rice, fruit ice, coconut candy.

Papa playing congas, Tio his guitar.

Swaying lanterns in the branches,

dancing people on the grass.

Bedtime is forgotten on a special party night.

10 p.m. in Puerto Rico is...

***

Midnight on the mid-Atlantic

Nothing blacker than the water,

nothing wider than the sky.

Pitch and toss, pitch and toss.

The Big Dipper might just ladle

a drink out of the sea.

Midnight on the mid-Atlantic is...

***

2 a.m. in England

Bread in the pantry at nighttime

tastes better than cream cakes at tea.

2 a.m. in England is...