An English fair as a going concern.
A small outing
To Loughborough fair -
subliminal panic signals
flicker:
into the dark
into the confluence
as they all flow
towards
the bright lit hoop of the entry.
Behold! A train
whooshing round and round
inside the hoop - "Hoop hoop hurrah"
breathless
she and her emerge
from a spreading whirlgig
and try the helter
skelter
spiral
down.
he cries: "The music hurts, it's too loud"
"Come on now, try throwing these balls,
Have some candy-floss, that's better..."
"Oh!" The old fashioned horses and cockerels
moving at a stately pace,
you can just hear the proper music
in between the records.
Move on. "Aha!" - a small wheel
'Suitable for young children'
She bites her fingernails
as the car rocks at the apex.
OK. That's over - "Look at these fish - catfish."
Something jumped up in the fun house, "Did it?"
"Come on , we can't keep spending"
"Donkeys are organic"
(it feeds from a council litter bin
placed at donkey height
on a lamp post)
The dodgems we race and bump and yank the wheel,
"Good fun" Yes - the rocket roundabout
must be the last one "Alright then, two!"
...then it's homeward
away...against the stream,
fading sounds in the distance,
returning to a more familiar dream.
(First printed in "Common voices" - Charnwood writers,
Winter, 1983)
Evolution
and afterwards index