day twenty-five: The event, bittersweet

the event
bittersweet
friday evening
off work
cleaned up
friends and lovers
to the moviehouse
they all went

cineplex
all crowd in
crunching popcorn
cells phones
ring anyway
teenagers
still make out
in the back row

the projectionist smiles
sees it all
for the last time
previews
audience gasps
at the promise
of another
crap
hollywood
movie

fake sentiment
fake butter
oddly coated fingers
fizzy
chemical
water
chunk of
your cash
gone forever
light
onscreen dances
reminds you
why you came
or you regret
that you did
as
time
crawls
or fly
relatively
with dozens
of strangers
as shadows
in the dark

crowd reacts
like a was a
live performance
villains booed
heroes cheered
big ending
big applause
but no one
onscreen
can hear

public gathering
main event
now passed
time to go home
many in the lot
buyer's remorse
wishing that
they'd waited
to rent
the movie
instead

the projectionist
his job
replaced by
technology
waits
until crowds
passed
a couple of boxes
takes with him
looks back
at what it became
and quickly
drives away
from the oversize
concrete box
they call
the cineplex
onward
to his
next event