..
—
Carnival Parade, Ehrenfeld Cologne
I stepped out to enjoy the sun and stare at the neighborhood festivities
watching silly floats pass by
bands marching down
children chasing after candy being thrown from the sky
shadows and legs and wrappers
walk within confetti
bright colors fall on cement
and hands race to grab them between the masquerade of clown pants and tails
the man in front of me turns
he obviously hasn’t showered in weeks
his clothes have not been washed
his teeth are all missing
and he only has several fingers on his soiled hands
he unwrapped a chocolate bar
slowly pealing the wrapper with the two fingers of his hands
careful to never touch the sweet
with such elegant skills he slowly unfolds it and turns to me:
“half half!”
his toothless smile says to me
“you can’t just watch this, you have to enjoy it!”
and gives me half his chocolate bar
a pack of chewing gum
and a sour gummi candy that was thrown from the next float
shadows and legs and wrappers
walk within confetti
the magnificent sun sparkles over pouring beer
and families collected their dinner off the ground
their breakfast in shiny balls
tomorrow’s lunch in pretty little wrappers
