Cheered The Monkey Man

They drank and cheered the monkey
man, they whistled their delight and
jeered when lights were focussed on
the band, cheered when lights had
scanned the throng, leered at sights
of couples clasped in close embrace,
laughed at wasted sights who wallowed
in the night and fell or staggered from
the stand. The dancers barely moved
aside, their eyes were dulled their
movement tied to rhythm’s flowing in
the tide of masochistic ecocide. The
singer screamed a puerile rage, he
bounced around the stage possessed,
absurdly gestured, spat invective foul
and rank – he really stank or were they
merely smelling rat. The longer that
they stayed in place the more the
pace aroused their feet, the rhythms
sweet possessed their limbs, their bodies
moved incited by the urging throng,
growing strong and glowing on
they pressed on in,
and pressed on in,
and
then
were
gone…
© I.D. Carswell 2007