Oops

Important PSA

When the bar is quiet, populated by  

Modern maenads in suits and t-shirts

Madness burning behind eyeglasses  

and half empty happy hour margaritas

They hum hymns against abrasive bass lines  

Pay out tabs and tips with wine stained dollar bills

Pray at a temple tucked between a strip club and an abandoned corking company

Hiding in a dark damp alley beside the gods of men-

The clouds of Olympus as fog on downtown brick.

Dionysus does drag with glitter on his lips

That sparkles off LED lights and pollutes his mouth with glamour,

Falling off his tongue like intoxication and

Dusting the silken gown that hugs his hips,

 a hidden rite in a dark temple

Tantalizing and teasing, he mouths the words to a song  

The world has long forgotten,  

One whose melody once pervaded the spirit in hot heavy forests  

in strained voices against skin and ecstasy-  

An ancient mystery reserved for slaves and women.

Dionysus does drag on Wednesday nights

This pompous pageantry a parody of

Semele and  Zeus,

He stitches the souls of audience members in his thigh

With a needle made of far off fantasy and thread crafted from fever dreams

The air sits thick with sweat and sweet wine,

He shows the audience

Rebirth

During a performative climax.

When they gasp he

Takes their breath and fashions it into  

Pointed shellac nails and pink powder that smears over his cheeks-

They never breathe again  

And they adore him.  

It’s sparkling amethyst and blossoming vines

He turns their two dollar draft into to nectar,

showers the smoky stage with golden ichor,

Makes throats burn with prayer and cheap liquor

Sways hips and thrums hearts with sex and madness and the heady heat of heedless hedonsim

Dionysus serves reverent divinity to a dusty dive bar

On Wednesday nights