I wrote this poem after going to the carnival and watching people ride a Tilt-A-Whirl while Journey was playing in the background.  It’s appropriately called “Traveling Carnival Girl:”

Traveling Carnival Girl

She’ll appear in the night,
her neon jewelry
blinking in rhyme.
She’ll look at you
with her candy apple eyes
covered in caramel eyeshadow;
she’ll whisper to you in the lyrics
of songs by Journey. Don’t stop
believing, she’ll say. Hold on
to that feeling, she’ll say. She’ll
pull you close and kiss you;
her perfume will smell
like buttered popcorn laced
with red licorice; her lips
will taste like funnel cake
sprinkled with cinnamon.
The sudden sugar rush
will tickle your brain, and you’ll fall
into her carousel arms.
The last two things you’ll see: her
cotton candy hair, her
rollercoaster curves.
The next morning, she’ll be gone,
and all that will remain
in the dust of the fairgrounds
will be a pile of her bolts.

Note: Poem first published in The Eunoia Review in 2014.