Postcard from San Francisco

 

The Ferry Building Conspiracy

by John Carney

Again, they were at the Piers,
The Game Pigeons,
Clustered about in thick groups,
Knowing no order,
Yet only the ceaseless hunger for dissonance,
As, again, the great crowds bustled along the thoroughfare,
Gaming them with the Food of Disorder.

Some clustered about the Ferry Building,
Which had been renamed by some,
“The Gaming Palace,”
Where the mad were known only by the wise and the wary,
To game the crowds with voice tricks and acoustical wonders of the same,
Without the immediate knowledge of that unfortunate gathering.

There, against the backdrop of the background chatter,
The Voice Artists plied their wares,
Vending madness for free to those would hear their sales “pitch.”
To feed the pigeons the same Pomegranate Seeds,
Persephone devoured in Her folly of love.

Madness had taken on a new lover,
And cavorted endlessly about the wharves,
In that City by The Bay,
Whose Voice was never at rest.

There, if you would, you can find out what you’re “hearing,”
At the Devil’s Playground,
Where the Mad make merry with one another,
For the sake of the same.
Every seeking glory from those who have none,
And yet finding none save in the moment’s vanity,
Elusive as the moment’s passing,
And fleeting as a glance in Eternity’s Mirror.

As they pass one another along the walkway,
They trade barbs of reference,
To see who “controls” who;
To find out who is “talking to “who.”

“The Gaming Palace” is filled with busy, thronging mobs,
Blissfully unaware of who’s “talking” to them.

An unofficial act had come to town,
And the Voice Throwers had just arrived from the local madhouse,
To entertain the crowd.

The problem was:
They would never find out how entertained they were,
Until they, too, had arrived at the madhouse,
Lacking the company of the same for their trouble.
And bereft of the extra baggage of their sanity.

 

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.