There’s a bench by the Santa Cruz merry-go-round
where you can sit and watch the brass-ring jockies
as they spin past at high speeds
watch their faces shift from
crazed release last miss to
tight mad joy next shot
hook swinging into view
watch hands pull back
fingers snap from
loose, curved noodles to
crooked
ready
reach.
merry-go-rounds are incredibly dangerous, especially with capitalist brass ring trophies! are we nuts? round-faced children dizzily spinning, never inward, never outward, wobbly lunging beyond reach for a rusty metal prize. we are nuts!
“If I had my life to live over I’d like to make more mistakes next time…I would perhaps have more actual trouble, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones…I would ride more merry-go-rounds, I would pick more daisies.”
—Nadine Stair
nadine, you are nuts!