calls for camouflage

three or four of the reigning judges

nonetheless remained obdurate

seated high above the rest

overplaying any hint of eminence,

directing a relentless clan of jesters and jugglers,

entertaining runners doing handstands,

donning red hats,

scatting backporch Dixieland songs,

fronting an already mesmerized, gathering crowd

a slight of hand performance followed,

an eleventh hour departure from some intended snake oil cure,

pulsating wheels transforming fire into foolsgold,

and as these descendants from far away toxic planets

relentlessly infested this misguided fractured land,

surviving masked citizens were left to dodge

invisible avenues of craters and quicksand

and after the deluge,

remaining congregants

knelt before the judges

calling for even more camouflage,

frozen trees shedding cold deadwood,

while we survivors of this entire spectacle

continued standing aside, motionless,

brooding three legged,

some two,

most without