IN CARNIVAL

 

The city went everywhere I did.

It was not about to end on my account.

There were mountains sure

but far in the distance

and painted I expect.

 

It’s enough to make a man

throw up his flag in horror,

while swearing fidelity to another race.

No, make that sweating fidelity.

 

I saw the new century arrive

while marking pages in a book,

amused, amazed., by my own handwriting.

 

Fireworks, raucous sulfur,

a float reached six thousand feet –

mambo, samba,

nothing was invisible

but everything needed fire

to not be dark —

a man danced right by me

in his dead father’s only suit

down the streets of the village

and a woman in a tutti-frutti hat

reddened my brow with lipstick.

 

Something deeper was required

but everybody was too consumed by carnival

to leave the surface.

I was peppered with flame and homesickness.

 

Not knowing the local dialect,

no one had ears for me.

Even at a parade’s sincerest moments,

the truths could not take over.

 

Just sensual and loud,

the easy road to destination.