A gashed and gaping pumpkin burns
emits a rancid rotting odor
greeting pre-diabetic heathens

Black cats and screeching bats
startle the littlest of the munchers
in a city decayed by blood and rust

A bridge tilted by a millimeter
lords over rushing river and splinters
struts in metal fashion before the storm

Gladiators hallucinate between concussions
Lions and christians and furry huns
leap from alleys and dumpsters and gutters

Bands play and march and dazzle
rippling brass and silver on a field
before brazen cheering plebians

Hear the song of a thousand dreams
a thousand shouts singing out of key
uncertainty brings the cacophony down an octave

Presidential box matches the drapes
Imagination finishes the vision of a short
master stroke invoking the myth of the tyrant

Setting sun on an amateur showdown  
in the shadow of an errant arc
choking the last gasps from a senile warrior

Passing boredom in a controlled climate
Cringes in a backseat with no batteries
dying echoes of "are we there yet...."

Babies and mental patients despair
over loss of closeness and peace
disappeared into dystopic hysteria

Hobbits and goblins and Big Bird frolics
in a sanitized concept of Hell
among treats and smiles and winks