NIGHTFALL IN MORNINGSIDE - Part I

Bright
Sunset orange
High-beam spotlight
Illuminates the night
Along this dead-end side street
Lined with shallow shadows
And a barely discernable
Avocado darkness artificially dappled.

Stunted conversations
And muted mutterings
Individual voices
Inaudible and un-unique
Raised in self congratulation
A cacophonous celebration
With glasses raised
“To me, to me!”

Expensively manicured
Attractively veneered
Self-conscious somebodies
Parading and posturing
On display in the round
In the social-circus ring
Uniformly costumed
All made-up, hiding.