The Halloween Parade

Over the Pulaski Skyway
Down through the tunnel of love
A school bus in day glow colors
Filled with bygone hippie stuff
Don’t laugh, your daughter might be inside
The officer laughs anyway
Don’t ask, don’t tell, it is just as well
You’re heading for the Halloween parade
Here between the police barricades
They won’t stop the Halloween parade
They won’t paint the line green, the mayor isn’t here
There won’t be any cuts in aid
There won’t be no military fanfare
But it has the blessings of several popes
Jesus carrying his own damn cross
Or carrying just enough rope
Here on the Avenue of the Americas
Larger than life, behind makeup and mask
Everything America is afraid of
Is lost in a ritualized hell
All so the children won’t ask
All so we won’t have to tell
It’s the yearly meeting of the never-minds
The artists and actors and clowns
On this night and this night only
It is the only show in town
We’re all of your worst nightmares
We’re all of your wildest dreams
The pagans and gays the specter of aids
In a riot of color and screams
It’s the morning after the night before
Hanging with the leftover leaves
Deflated balloons and streamers
In the thin arms of the dying trees
There is an awkward silence
As awkward couples come and go
Looking sadly at this boulevard
Wondering if and when they’ll know