by Nancy Byrne Iannucci
I was there that night,
the Sound Factory,
circa way back, in 1992,
& so were some people I knew from high school.
It was a year since we were in the same room together,
in full regalia, waiting for the release,
to toss the tassel to the left,
to embrace our liberty.
Here we were together again, in Chelsea.
FREEDOM, MUSIC, DANCING-
navigating our way through smoke and thunder.
We hugged and talked above the woofers and tweeters.
I walked up steel stairs
and saw Dres, D.R.E.S. leaning on the railing.
He gave me a soft Black Sheep smile and mouthed hello.
“Damn! Dres just said hello to me!”
They say music unites people,
but there was something in the air that night,
I felt it brewing, the energy was a derecho.
I cast it aside. “It’s the excitement of the night-
nothing’s going to happen.”
The smoke got thicker, the bass louder.
We waited for the first act to set up, which felt like forever.
I heard a woman scream, “Super Cat! Super Cat!”
PM Dawn finally took the stage.
They didn’t match the vibe,
wearing “Amity” faction outfits
like characters in the dystopian series, Divergent.
Through the side door,
giants collected like ants
marching along the perimeter of the dance floor.
“Set Adrift” had barely started
when KRS-1 grabbed the mic out of Prince Be’s hand,
smacked him off the stage, and said something like:
“Next time you want to say anything about our boys, you get this.”
BOOM!
And then BOOM! BOOM!
The storm erupted
They went into song-
BOOM! BOOM!
LIGHTS! LIGHTS!
MORE SMOKE!
7.0 dance on the Richter scale-
Before we knew it,
we were outside,
in the cold NYC night.
Some left,
others stayed.
Most stayed.
We weren’t afraid.
When the storm settled,
we went back inside.
Dancing in the gentle mist,
I could smell the calm of Petrichor.
Nancy Byrne Iannucci is a librarian and poet who lives with her two cats: Nash and Emily Dickinson. San Pedro River Review, 34 Orchard, Defenestration, Hobo Camp Review, Bending Genres, The Mantle, Typehouse Literary Magazine, and Glass: a Poetry Journal are some of the places you will find her. She is the author of four chapbooks, Temptation of Wood (Nixes Mate Review, 2018), Goblin Fruit (Impspired, 2021), Primitive Prayer (Plan B Press, fall 2022), and Hummingbirds and Cigarettes (forthcoming via Bottlecap Press). Visit her at nancybyrneiannucci.com.
