Key West Carnival

Key West Carnival

Key West is like a permanent carnival.
The Roosters are crowing,
the Barkers are barking.
Everywhere on Duval
everything sells for $5.
or must sell everything at 80 % off.
Like prostitutes standing in the doorway
merchants rip off the wealthy touristas
docking from the ships.

It’s a mob scene on Mallery Square Dock.
Hundreds lining up 10 deep,
fake Cuban cigars hanging from bearded lips
cell phones raised over heads,
taking photos of the star of the show
the sun setting into the ocean
behind the jugglers juggling fire.

It is quite spectacular,
this spectacle of nature.
For the moment, there is stillness and quiet,
as the sun disappears,
swallowed up by the horizon.
Then clapping and cheering vibrate the new night sky.


Dennis Wayne Bressack
Woodstock, New York
March 16, 2016