Paper Jam

Sonnet geekiness: This is a hybrid rhyme scheme-- call it a Spenserian/Italian sonnet. (Spenser wouldn't have liked it, methinks).

abab bcbc

So far it's standard Spenserian-- but now it changes to a standard Italian sestet, but carries the c rhyme from the octave:

cde ecd

The aftermath of ticker-tape parades:
confetti snow, a multicolored flurry
coating sidewalks, piled on promenades
dissolving into grey and sodden slurry.
Is it the print, or have my eyes gone blurry?
Rain leaves streets awash in vibrant ink,
the colors flee in an unseemly hurry
vanished in the time it takes to blink,
gone down the drain. As if the sewers drink
a multi-hued celebratory dram
to mark whatever was the grand occasion—
wedding, birth or death or coronation—
here’s my plan. Next holiday, I think
we’ll make our festive toast with paper jam.