Super Coliseum Fifty Poem by Lonnie Hicks

It was a gathering of nations,
of tribes from around the world
a seething confluence of
wealth and poverty,
despair hope and disdain
spectacle, metaphor and memory
manly men and dancing girls
beer, wine and sin
thrashing, mixing,
politics and sexing
music, laughter
and pure extravagance;

of excess, TV tubing
Super Bowl 50;
at that age where individuals
and nations are mature
sensing that greatness,
promise and hope
blend equally
with time sense past
where youth and age mix
the Almost Was and the Promises To Be.
on grounds on which the poor once lived
now Astro turf
now displaced,
where tickets cost thousands
that only the rich
can afford
the price of entry
where the poor got gentrified tickets
elsewhere
where billions sit staring at peep boxes
happy to consume psychic goods
where age is Manning up for the last fight
where youth and color are rising
where each symbolizes changes
wrought of time
eras passing
and we all tune our sets,
some for times gone past
some hoping for a beveled future
others there for the drama of it
death and dying
birth and new beginnings
all these psychic souls
peering
psychic urges
being played out in violent clashes
former slaves and gladiators
against erstwhile masters
modern day roman emperors
thumbs poised
in their luxury boxes
too distant to know or recognize
but all combatants
both resent and sense
brought to them this drama
to be seen
they gleaning from it
meager satisfactions
which blend nightmares and dreams
AstroTurf and the Real
evocative and expressive of that
Surreal Perfection
binding both
current order
and change dreams.
Toss of coin
heads up
let the games begin.