Carousel

September 09, 2005

It was always a ten-minute ride to forever.

After the carnival closes every night
the animals slither out of their poles,
lick each other's gaping holes,
and vomit their vertigo
near the cotton-candy stand.
They curse ten-year olds
who don't know what it's like
to be thrown out of centrifuge .
They spit flecks of paint
that have chipped
from their perpetual happiness,
wishing that the clowns
(who at least get to choose
their own faces)
would scare away children
who clutch their sides
with sugar-sticky hands
and scream for them to go faster,
not knowing that they used to devour
new-born babies,
before people began paying
so they can laugh.

And nobody notices
that painted smiles wear off
with every spin.


blue rogue