Scream

It was New Year Eve, 1978
The last movie posted on the marquee would be,
John Travolta and Olivia Newton John's, "Grease."
The audience numbered five lonely hearts
No popcorn in hand,
no popcorn in mouth...
nothing better to do on an Ole Year's night.

The concessionaire stand had already been crated
Television had sealed the movie house's demise a generation earlier
There was a time, you could make out all afternoon in its balcony
Two full length movies, newsreels, cartoons...and vaudeville

In the weeks and months and years post closure,
the boarded up theater took on the appearance of a crypt
Till one good day, an investor had an idea.
Remove the planks from its doors and exits,
fumigate the joint from top to bottom,
dress it in blood red velvet
rechristen it, "The Little House of Horrors."

Two blocks from the ocean
off Atlantic Avenue
where hired part time workers play ghouls and goblins
Halloween, 52 weeks a year.