Urbane Variety Show Poem by Matthew Harris

Night owl / circadian
rhythm/ early bird
while gravediggers plot
their underground scheme
bats swoop upon unseen prey

casting silhouette across
harvest moon face
where nocturnal drama played out
scamper with cackling pleas
donning accoutrement placards

all across litter strewn
billeted boarded streets
century21 declared
exceptionally fractured,
grievously suffering
horrendous injury
no matter

fantasy olive groves,
and visions of sugar plums
in stark contrast to how
deathly still
quiet as a cemetery
accompanies semi rural life
comprising this
neck of the woods

compared with active
throb and pulse of city beat
a mere couple dozen miles
(done dirt cheap)northwest
of nearest urban metropolis,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

where burlesque
characters sketch
deplorable basket and
hair woven exhibits

resound with farcical
gaudy hucksters
intent to wrench
measly pocket change.

Chorus

at dusk, the curtain
call defining defeat
among indigent street people
smack dab
amidst cornucopia,
caste aways bum

ping uglies against
high scale salons selling
high end products
and/or services,
where homeless hawk
poor imitation of top

notch brands casting
an optical illusion,
where dark shadows,
especially accentuates,
sans edge of night

where some of Gaea's
children well nigh
skitter like rats
zig zagging
motions reflecting

severe jagged
skyline awash
where missionaries,
pickpockets, and racket
tearing snake oil

salesman tricksters
trace noah ark
of salvation for lost
(albeit dead)souls
puncturing heavily
tattooed bodily limbs

stepping around and
over booze hounds
muttering tremendously
delirious apothegms
distortedly echoed

by night owls
manning the
graveyard shift
responding with what only
can be interpreted as
"i dont give a hoot."

Chorus

sauntering pimps parading humans wares
apropos this time of year - Halloween,
when legion of witches and warlocks
madly dastardly dashing
on broomsticks
keep company with hobgoblins, ogres,

trolls trumpeting protectionist slogans
particularly opiates for all
to sustain drugged stupor
grown ups as babies suckled
on addictive narcotics
vicious catch22 carpet bombing
entire neighborhoods.

Chorus:
the following (starting with pained...
ending with smile)elaboratedbelow,
and equates to all the notations t
he word chorus appears. comprende?

pained expression
on junkies faces
mirror rite of pass
sage viz zit head
on kids wearing braces
the writhing, mutilating,
and contorted paces
sets trail of tears
despite diverse people
enduring painful races

to life another day asper the former,
who sport a million dollar
smile sans the latter
taking him/her to untold successful places

which entails untold paper chases,
yet bon mots maxims boosting morale
mantra oft times violent
environment erasures.