San Gennaro Festival, Little Italy
Submitted on 01/12/2019 at 2:21PM by JarJarJedi
and sings: hey, Jesus saves, hey
his full sound fades into rain, carnival
shouts and laughter; color and music churn
under propped arches burning orange
stretching from the singing man on a barricade
to an unseen southern end. Slick cobblestone
slides by under beer and pastry
Maria moves her Crystal Ball in from weather
a man yells, over and over: the first try is free
and a woman, under umbrella and brown shawl
kneels before San Gennaro, red plastic arms
extended in love. She clips another dollar bill
to a long satin ribbon at his feet
crosses herself, rejoins the flow; as music
and warm light fade, a man
breaks from mist, white
bucket of roses ahead: just two bucks
for your lady. I pass by without a word but smile
and decide for once
I won't look behind
to see if this festival can still exist.