Applause, applause!

When we were in Cuba, we went to two night clubs.  At each, after introducing the next act of song, the master of ceremonies called out to the audience "applause,  applause!" -  applause rhyming with cows. This really tickled us for some reason. 


App-plows, app-plows!
Diminutive proprietor Pepe Sanchez of the Trova House
Calls out each time before his band
Launches into their next exuberant performance,
Bookending their starts and finishes
With extravagant clapping, 
Like an exclamation mark at each end of a Spanish sentence. 

Again, at the Hotel Nacional
The carefully coiffed, beautifully dressed compere
Cries out: Applows, applows! before each new number
Whipping the crowd into a frenzy of expectation
Surely unnecessary given the extravagance of each performance. 

Such enthusiasm is alien to the English audience, 
Who prefer to wait, to see if applause has been earned, 
But who soon catch on
With the help of a few free mojitos.

© Copyright 2023. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved.

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