the vamp next door

a vampire has moved
in next door.
or at least she appears
to be one. pale
skin, long black hair,
with red lips.
i've never seen her
in daylight.
she drives a prius,
but i don't think that's
connected to her blood
sucking ways.
at night
she has friends over
i can hear them
singing around a piano,
gershwin, cole
porter that sort of thing.
i see her blue recyling
bin in the morning,
put out by the curb.
it's full of
tomato juice bottles,
and vodka, mostly.
some red bull cans too.
they stay up late, late
into the night, sometimes
when it's a full moon
i can hear some howling,
or some action
going on in the upstairs
bedroom. we share
a wall, and a rather
thin wall at that.
i want to go over and
tell them to keep the noise
down, tell them that i
have work in the morning,
but i don't
want to get bitten.
i'm not sure that my
health care provider would
cover such wounds. so
for now i just lie
there with a wreath
of garlic around my neck,
a sharpened wooden stake
in my hand and listen
to them sing late into
the wee hours.