welcome to the red hot planet

where the lights dance with wild abandon

like the girls on the ledge

and writhing figures on the floor

step to the wild beat of drums

like a primitive ritual dance

where dancers in costumes gyrate

passionately

or listlessly (or lifelessly?)

under multicolored flashes

sometimes white

are they paying homage to the screen

where more figures writhe

silently screaming at them?

welcome to the red hot planet

where pale faces

accented by garish paint

more garish in the dancing lights

scream at each other

yet can’t be heard over the wailing

and the drum beats

and the priestesses in black

(against white flesh

made paler by the lights)

offer themselves to the screen goddess

while satyrs dressed like men

try to catch them

is this the new world

the space age

where men go when earth dies?

i’d rather stay on earth.

 

© Cindy Lapeña, 2012

 

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