Mardi Gras

The night is alive,

Smiles contagious and intoxicating.

Music blasts through the narrow path slithering into every bland lifeless space.

Stomachs pressed against the barricades, getting as close as their bodies warrant.

Greedy hands stretched out , grasping for a worthless prize.

The infinite line of joy is slowing ,

The blare of sirens and flashes of blue lights signal the end of festivities.

Left in the wake, unidentifiable substances leak down a street littered with trinkets and unwanted things.

The air is polluted with the stench of watered down beer.

Beads dangle from power lines and trees.

And the grand prizes that granted those greedy hands instant gratification have lost their worth, tossed in the trash a week later.