Bulletin boards with school verses scrawled in crayon;
news streaming out in tickertape display;
astrologists’ adverts in hieratic neon…
Up to umpteen thousand signs in any one day!
Bargains chalked onto window and pole;
abbreviations, slogans that shine, flash or glow;
bannered kiosks erected where myriads stroll;
half-hidden billboards from decades ago
becoming visible in the early morning
and lost to shadows at the finale of day;
scarcely discernible signs of warning –
projected, stamped, posted, some that hang, some that sway –
admonishing the reader to use self-restraint:
Caution! High Voltage! No Outlet! Wet Paint! –
all of it adding into the lettered melee.
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