Palimpsest

Huckster Jive

Rainbow colours touch the falling gloom

As fingers of smokey light

Dance on the scattered clouds above.

Stars wink in knowing glances,

Seeming to conspire with

The barkers and the clowns

Hatching their intrigues and their schemes

To part the marks from their money.

And all the while the trucks arrive

Unload their content in orderly fashion

Transform a dusty lot

Into a Xanadu of excitement and delight.

Roustabouts perform their intricate dance

Von Neumann machine

Self-replicating itself across the country.

Community bulletin boards

Have proclaimed the coming event

As they would for a virgin birth.

Roustabouts perform an intricate dance

They perform

And by the first shades of evening

Settling to the ground

It comes to life.

A cascade of clamorous voices

With carnie calls

And huckster jive

Assault my ears and tug at my sleeve

To show my skill and treat

That smiling coquette on my arm

To a worthless prize

Of inestimable value.

I know the odds still favour the house.

I’ll toss a ring or fling a dart

These barkers and roustabouts,

Artistes and clowns

Still need to put food on the table.

I willingly part with my money

In fair trade for an hour of fantasy.

A wall of sound and a wave of scents

And rising over all, delighted screams

While the calliope steams

And calliope steams

Await beyond the coloured lights.

Walk up to the wicket

For a handful of tickets

There is no defence.

They know all the incantations,

The magic potions and sideshow trickery,

The sleight-of-hand to hook you

And to reel you in.

To divert me from my path.

Putty in their hands

The pinging of flies bouncing

Flies pinging off naked bulbs