conventional wisdom in poetry

at the comic book convention
in the albany airport hotel
I saw Gambit sitting in the corner
checking his e-mail on his laptop
I saw the Green Power Ranger
looking at pornography sideway
on his new-looking smartphone
I saw an older gentleman
with an unfortunate stutter
trying to define anime and manga terms
reading off a list on his large iPad
to a room full of giggling teenagers
by the time he got to the difference
between "hentai" and "ecchi"
I just had to leave the room
it got too uncomfortable

at the comic book convention
in the albany airport hotel
I watched people from the Hindu wedding reception
that was going on in the other conference rooms upstairs
pass through our throngs
in much brighter colours than we wore
some aghast and some agog
and some simply bemused
at Spider-Man and Lady Thor
and fifteen different Boba Fetts
sharing the space with them
I saw a man in a beret and a billygoat beard
and I wanted to pay passersby
twenty dollars each to go to him and say
"that's an amazing Mythbusters costume"
but I couldn't because I was broke
I watched a gaggle of girls high school basketball players
pose for pictures with two dudes in fursuits of cartoon wolves
but I'm sure the girl-jocks didn't know
what the furries were going to do
later in their hotel room
without removing very much of either costume
perhaps the older gentleman
with the unfortunate stutter
could have explained better

at the comic book convention
in the albany airport hotel
I watched a rockabilly biker Joker
tell the stewardesses and pilots checking in at the front desk
after some long flight from some long workday somewhere
that they were the best airline costumes at the show
and because it was the hotel by the airport
in the lobby there was a television screen
that listed all the scheduled
departures and arrivals
in the albany airport
a couple miles away

the flat screen television in the lobby
listed cities where I've lived
places that I've gone broke and left
with my metaphoric non-costume tail between my legs
places that I long to see
places where I want to be again
but if I am too broke to pay off pranks
I'm far too broke to fly
to fly to Burbank or JFK
in a sea of glorious freaks
a water tinged in vague regret
that's how I spent
convention day