too early

photo by Markus Spiske

I don’t know if it’s the dew on the grass
or the taste of the air filtered through an
unready nose, or what
but when I walk outside at an ungodly hour,
it hits me hard in the face
that unsettling smell of I’M AWAKE TOO EARLY
and the sun is barely in the sky
and the sound of traffic hurts the ears
and the nascent light burns the eyes
the feeling of TOO EARLY
is a painful stillness
telling you that nothing has started yet,
but it will
trust me, it will
give it a sec…
the day will hit you before the caffeine does
the stress and the nerves — 
and before you know it, you gotta take a shit
and you’re miles from a decent toilet
oh, TOO EARLY, TOO EARLY
why does the morning hate me so much?
well, at least the feeling is mutual

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Garbage Notes:

This is one of the earliest (ha) poems I ever wrote. And, as you can see, it’s about a topic I can be quite vehement about. How much I hate the fucking morning.

I have hated waking up early since I was a child. Ever since those Catholic school days where we were forced to get up at the ass-crack of dawn and wait at the bus stop in our stupid uniforms, on the sketchiest street imaginable, in the freezing cold, brain dead, stomach in knots, and just hoping the bus wouldn’t be too loud or crowded or obnoxious.

I’ve always been a night owl. I work better at night. I feel better at night. I’m relaxed when it’s dark outside.

Seriously, the 7AM sun has never been a friend to me. And all his associates are assholes too, like the rooster and the alarm clock and the dumbass morning news.

All I want to do before noon is lay in bed, eat, take a shit, and maybe read a book. But life has never been kind to me, and so I am forced eternally to suffer the endless scourge of TOO EARLY.

Blame the farmers, blame capitalism, blame bureaucracy and the fact that all the powerful people in the world have built their wealth on the false notion that all human beings should be able to function perfectly on some ridiculous 9 to 5 program. Blame whoever the fuck you want. This is the world we live in. The early bird catches the worm and all that bullshit.

But it doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it. I don’t HAVE to be happy about waking up early. I’ll do it, sure. Because I have to. Because I’d like to earn a steady income and be a responsible adult. But I will never stop wishing for a life where I could wake up naturally, at ease, slow and in my own time.

I will never stop longing for enough mental peace and space and clarity in the morning to reflect on my dreams and maybe come up with a few more creative ideas before having to toil away on the hamster wheel.

Okay, I’ll stop here. I’ve said enough. Mornings suck. You can tell me how much of a baby I’m being in the comments section. But I know there’s plenty of night writers, night owls, and creatures of the dark on here too. So maybe we can all appreciate the fact that it’s okay to have a different sort of brain. It’s okay to live life according to your own rhythms.

The world needs early birds and night owls alike.

---

Franco Amati 2026

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