The Venice West, at night, is now:

            Hevenic

Bonus Nails and Lashes dim into:

            Ails and Ashes

Slovenian Hair becomes:

            Slovenian Ha (!)

Mel’s Diner miraculously remains Mel’s all twenty-four hours

All seven days

Looming like Dr. Eckleberg

Coldwell Banker on Lincoln sets into:

            O er

One apostrophe from being included in a Globe Theater soliloquy

It’s as if a reptile chewed the glass and sucked it out

The mutant panic ensuing , bleeding the life from the corporate dwellers

or the hopeful eyes of photographers

A glowing, scaly doom wanders Lincoln Blvd and renders it all mute, liquid, and aspirant

Jack in the Box disappears

Flashes again

Vanishes again, winking at us, seductive as Lady Luck

There’s Jack again

That pretty, pretty neon death