A NEW NIAGARA FALLS TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

 

A NEW NIAGARA FALLS TOURIST ATTRACTION

 

An annual pilgrimage

tests the suicidal impulse -

those

contemplating

a jump 

into swirls of hypnotic water

that gush across the brink,

claiming a life or two each week

while crass Clifton Hill perches

gargoyle-like above.

 

Inside shadows of the Norris Wing,

far down a gloomy hall -

a patient sealed for thirty-five long years.

Nurses report he responds to a friendly face -

eyes move, nothing else.

 

The CEO, alert to market share,

calculates that parking fees alone

might reap a rich bonanza

from sightseers eager to view

Capone’s old car, Frankenstein’s green face,

and a frozen man who blinks.

 

The Chamber of Commerce and mayor

jointly endorse the hospital exhibit,

a win-win gambit for the municipality

where water curls, currents coil

and tourism proves to be - insatiable.