The Noise of a Party

(Adapted from the novel Satan in Silk by Paul V. Russo)

The noise

It flowed, rumbled, roared from

Behind the door at the head of the stairway

Some of it poured from overheated bongo drums

Some of it crackled from shoe leather

Scraping over bare flooring – and all of it

Sounded like a thousand feverish carpenters

Rushing to finish a job with a contracted deadline

The noise of a party

A big party

The kind of a party that any guy in his right mind

Would stay away from

Unless he was looking for trouble

The noise of the party was a Lorelei’s song

That lured and enticed and blasted

His good intentions into smithereens

Behind the door the activity

Would soon be mounting

To a hectic peak and

Pretty soon there would be

A spate of loose tongues

And loose morals

And loose zippers

And Adele Van Hoyt, hostess

And self-appointed games mistress

Would turn off the lamp

And light a candle or two

And the sounds would fade away

To sighing silence

Masked by the orgiastic rhythm

Of bongo drums