Night at the Fair
The carnival has come to town, its mouth agape for rubes.
A hissing bustling mass of noise, it builds its world in a day.
Where anything can be believed, then nothing is untrue;
the weight is fair, the freak is real, the prize is worth the play.
Where any shadow seems a threat, feel free to act the fool.
Boil the blood and hoist the flag, if you have the coin to pay.
Triviality and wild excess,
dark skill and the beat of the drum.
Shoot cigarettes from the mouth of a whore,
and wait and see who’ll come.
March 2011
Posted for One Shoot Sunday at the inimitable OneStopPoetry
Image: Photo by Fee Easton
Oh you and your words, hedge! This piece made me think of some backwoods fair from a time gone by where flutes and penny whistles blare in one's ear. The hopes of some youth dashed on the rocks due to the vision of... beauty shown above. Cold, stark reality.
ReplyDeleteThen again, this time change isn't agreeing with me. Maybe I'm being bitter again. Thanks for sharing!
Those first two lines are outstanding!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a night at the fair, your refrain is priceless..night at the fair takes on a whole different persona than the daylight....bkm
ReplyDeleteWowzers! Smokin' !!
ReplyDeleteWonderfully captured.
ReplyDeleteLast line left me speechless... Love the carnival metaphor, "Where anything can be believed, then nothing is untrue" This carnival of sorts I think can be applied as an apt description for quite a few places where people who have coinage feel entitled to play the fool. Wonderfully written, hedgewitch!
ReplyDeleteSteprightup, onetenthofadollar, step riiight up!
ReplyDeleteHey, where's my elephant ear?
Magnificent! I'm up here, first in line, ready for anything!
ReplyDeleteshoot cigarettes from the mouth of a whore - what kind of fairs do you have over in the States...ha-ha..almost like Wilhelm Tell here in CH, shooting the apple from his son's head..smiles
ReplyDeleteHa! I love the play on "come" and the phrase "boil the blood and hoist the flag"--a bit of bawdiness that plays well with the barker's overall description of a tawdry carnival display. And I love that you took on the barker's voice in the first place--great concept. "Hissing bustling mass of noise"--wish I'd written that! But mostly I just wish I'd thought to shoot the cigarettes from the mouth of a whore. Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteDark, wicked, intense-- great job w/this...xxxj
ReplyDeletejust hope they dont miss the cigarettes...a rather chaotic piece much like the carnival atmosphere...everything possible, but dont believe it...smiles.
ReplyDeleteSounds like quite the surreal trip to the fair - not sure it's a place I want to see build. Dark, foreboding, with a bit of punch wrapped up in the image. Truly a place where anything is possible, a magical land for children, but what glitters may not always be so sweet...
ReplyDeleteI must agree with Fireblossom, though. If this is a fair - where's the elephant ears?
welcome to the fair...POW !...creativity at its best
ReplyDeletePeace, hp
The metrical perfections of this gives it a whirly-birdy loop where each line arcs so archly sharp. It's equal parts evocation and invocation, brewing the charm of carnival in "Boil the blood and hoist the flag, if you have the coin to pay." An invitation to go way low ('triviality and wild excess") beneath the midway lights. I'm game, let me have a shot at that carny-cum-whore tool! - Brendan
ReplyDeleteI really like this. You used the picture to tell a familiar story in an entirely new way. And I love tyhat line "Where anything can be believed, then nothing is untrue." Good one, Joy.
ReplyDeleteGosh, really went gothic on the prompt Joy! I flipping loved this take! "Shoot cigarettes from the mouth of a whore, and wait to see who comes", stonker of a close. Loved it!
ReplyDeleteJoy Ann, I hate the circus and you pinpointed
ReplyDeletethe feeling I get from it. Carnies have no
other life, than they know. I see this photo
evoked a sudden image in many peoples' minds.
Nicely done.
Pamela
"...the freak is real..." in all carnivals, and this to me spells the gothic lure. The rhyme plays at gothic images and this, to me, gives the balance between substance and form. The voice is perfect for both, too. Except in the first two lines of the last stanza though I can't explain how. Another excellent poem from you, Joy! Thank you for your take on carnival experiences through the "mouth of a whore shooting cigarettes".
ReplyDeleteThanks all, for taking the time to stop by and leave your thoughts. This prompt provoked quite a few radically different takes, many of them really exceptional.
ReplyDelete@FB & Chris--elephant ears must be some elitist northern thing--down here we have funnel cakes and indian tacos(which aren't really indian and aren't really tacos; they're hard to describe)The only elephant ears I know about besides the ones on elephants are the huge leafy things that grow in my garden.
Oh this was PACKED with metaphors.. brilliant stuff, Joy!!
ReplyDeleteLife has its ways of "playing" with us.. doesn't it? Making everything seem so rosy in one moment, and turning it all to thorns in the very next!
The last 2 lines in your poem spoke VOLUMES... really awesome!!
Exemplary, striking stuff. Nice storytelling - and, just as important, SHOWING it.
ReplyDeleteLove this!