At the School Picnic

National Poetry Month, Day 28

The merry-go-round at Lenape Park, Pennsylvania, very central to my childhood memories

At the school picnic

 

 

Riding the merry go round

on the last day of school

at the school picnic,

March music smooth, cool as a current of

water on the evening breeze of mid June

coursing through the open pavilion.

Round and round,

 seeking to walk on the still earth when landing.

Ring a round the rosy the sky

 and the farmer in the dell and go in

 and out the window all going in circles

for balance for the development of the inner ear

the inner ear which listens to the ocean of blood

and the reliable heart beat

the inner ear which notices the sound of something small

dropping in a distant room,

a distant ocean down by

 the bellowing of pipes of guts,

something clattering to the floor of my stomach,

breaking into small pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

"Escape from the Carousel"  painting by Erika Heller