Projection
Tickets to an indie film at a local theater
last left standing in the plaza and soon too will be gone
Where posters of failed flicks from 2012 line the walls
sun-aged and peeling, irrelevant, in reverence to your past
Where the popcorn's a few bucks less than at the megaplex uptown
a bit funky, a bit stale, but still just as good as before
Where the claw machine's filled with the same prizes as when
you would visit as a kid and spend the whole afternoon
fabric fading behind glass, they're trapped, they're trapped
decay itching at the plastic of the eyeballs and smiles
Getting so distracted by the scenery that you forget about the main attraction--
as you sit down for the film you were surprised they are showing
you are unsurprised that nobody is watching
and you sigh into the dust clouds of an empty cinema