NORTH PIER (92)

A mid-August Chicago night
as sultry
as a hot shower
in a sealed tomb

A reggae band
rocks North Pier
with loping rhythms
and a Rasta spirit
against a backdrop
of skyscrapers
their lighted windows
sparkling like joyful eyes
alive with summer’s rapture
jutting architectural angles
looking more like
an impressionistic movie set
than real life

Each moment thoroughly
unabashedly
percolating with human current
surging through the city
on an inky sharp evening
as downtown wears
its shroud of buildings
with the audacity
to challenge the energy
down to its moorings

On the pier
 conventioneers shuffle lazily
tourists dawdle with goofy smiles
city dwellers dash and dodge
eat and drink their fill
of this lakefront cornucopia

Everyone is
an integral part of the synthesis
of music
lake breezes
fast food fragrances
and the manic energy of a city
bubbling
in its own dynamic juices

North Pier
an old broad brick structure
once a tireless warehouse
now retired
yet never so alive
as it plays
with the children of the night
while reggae music festoons
down the Chicago River
in celebration
of a precious
summer night