Tonight
Christopher Moya
Now here's a splendid sight,
The darkness hangin' back behind the glow,
The rooftops smokin' and shiftin' all around.
It's a living collage of potted plants and dingy sidewalks,
A ruby reservoir of french-fried 'taters and twisty straws,
Where all the lights lean down on tabletops,
And the dreamy moon, our careless chaperon,
Rising and diving in the starstream.
Good times in old cafes
Filled with wondrous foolishness and smiles so wide they squeak
In the bonny beaming of our mug-steamed faces,
The sweet aromas billowing up through hours of talk,
We chat and cuddle in the wee street
About the wide-swung doors,
Poppin' donut gems and slurpin' up Mocha Mix,
Roundabout trays of cigarettes, peanuts, and jellybeans.
The nooks are full of laughter
Streaming from our hearts and bubbling in our ears,
Simmering in the merry medley of voices.
A little java-drunk, we move like slinkies with half-crazed looks,
Not coffeehouse caricatures, but ourselves,
As we do for real, swingin' about, hangin' around,
Doin' this jig or that rag to the silly talk-tunes,
Hoppin' in the scoobie-doobie dialect of our junky gibberish.
We don't want it to go,
'Cause all the cool cats we know are here and there
Doin' the charlie brown in this fat funhouse,
And the slow dancing honeys drift into long, wet kisses,
Hands on asses, moving, in wee scintillation,
To the heart's blue backbeat,
Bobbin' their sleepy heads like funky poohbears,
Humming and hissing, rockin' back and forth like dopey divas,
Goosin' each other and fallin' in love like mad!
We're all nods and chuckles 'round here,
Reelin' in the soupy mood, drinkin' the evening air,
Shakin' our hides and hips to the radio romp.
We're a boisterous, happy bunch:
Good-lookin' guys and lovely gals,
A grungy hound with his paws in his pockets,
A jazz singer and a longhaired lady,
An old man and a superstar, couples with big-knit sweaters,
A baby boy in his blue pajamas—tired little bear,
Washin' down PB&J with sips of Yoohoo
And just basically livin' it up
In the fountains and ferris wheels of the imagination.
This dynamite crowd, this nifty scene,
It's the starlight circus of the year,
And what a great big dewy shindig we got here!
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