Ferlinghetti's Spaghetti

Just two beats
down the street
the Pied Piper of
North Beach
sells

obscenity
serenity
identity
amenity
immunity
community

and postcards at City Lights
a watering hole for
literary elephants
thirsty for verse
as predator moralists
hide in the tall grass
ready to pounce
on the first amendment
and rip it to shreds
sending the bookseller
past the doorway dweller
next to the fortune teller
for lunch
at Tommaso's
Ristorante Italiano
where counterculture
sits at the counter
watching platters and plates
plates and platters
of lonely macaroni
floating facedown in a
tsunami of umami
as moist meatballs mosey
past the fisted pacifist
staring large into a
ripen red sea of anarchy
as he awaits the music
to sound again
to rebound again
a new rebirth
of wonder.