Larger Than Life (Carnaval)
Loose sand & dull glitter
dust the stairs of the Rio metro.
Vendors shuffle along in mended flip-flops,
wooden trays hang from their necks (full of cigarettes & mints).
Pushing through the turnstiles,
every color of skin
sweats under fluorescent lights,
yet summer is almost over.
Atlantic Ocean sardines
squeeeeeze inside a screaming tin can.
There are no strangers here,
just friends not yet met.
A cacophony of voices above ground
like cicadas crying in the night:
Muitas Cokas para os Cariocas!
The locals sit in plastic lawn chairs
inside their empty garages,
piles of beerless bottles
at their tired feet.
In the endless concrete,
dogs protect their turf
revelers stumble off sidewalks
& the air grows thick with the smell of street food.
70,000 life stories here.
70,000 hearts pumping blood.
A small city of smiles
exploding under the scarlet glow of fireworks.
The bateria starts the show:
ra-ta-ta! ra-ta-ta!
Verdant dresses spin for hours.
Like clockwork, their hands follow in time.
The stadium is humming.
A palpable current of ecstatic energy
surges through the collective veins of the crowd.
It escapes in song, then swallowed alive, then escapes again.
A celebration larger than life!
Larger. Than. Life.
A collection of thousands of nights,
including this one.
