MICHAELHARRIS

Twenty-Five Cents Worth

​

although there were no invitations sent
no television announcers 
S C R E A M I N G ! ! ! ! ! ! !  
into our faces 
that our presence was mandatory
and failure to appear would result in a lifetime

of social exile or torture
we understood
     and
          assembled
               ourselves
                    in
                         a
                              single
                                      file
nervously waiting to enter
constantly looking over our shoulders to see 
and be seen
 

sometimes 
a living room
sometimes 
a dimly lit city basement
one window for ventilation
no refreshments
chairs
no amenities offered to the frigid guests

 

a mountain of 45's 
feverishly playing on exhausted hi-fi stereo system
a pair of dying speakers 
located on opposite ends of the musty cellar

one naked blue light above
the bare concrete floor below

 

the satisfaction was just being there to

feed the hungry city ego
to possibly find love
or better yet
lust

 

the identity of the host was rarely known
never important

you paid your quarter to enter
rolled your dice
and took your chances at 
the social