carnival
look what we have here and watch because
of light floating wood a carcass this wooden boozer
or director
of river mud river meat
it’s ours in an inkling
we insist on trying the thrill of departing train
finger on wet plaster it’s time our eyes keys
and across the hall a private bathroom plus municipal parking lot
essential to smile and smile and again to smile
like a nail beneath tarpaulin
the coffee cools deem between monolith fundy tides
stir the soul into our decay and skip the classics boards pop
the night has no place in the world
and watch because remaining walls pavilion sleigh
is shifting water spark to dancefloor thawing rodent dusty slab
this is where of when and skirmish now
our footprints seem but distant lights that lead to nowhere
except of course this flounder house
Jane Ormerod’s books include Welcome to the Museum of Cattle and Recreational Vehicles on Fire (Three Rooms Press). Her work can be found in such publications as Mark Hawk Press Review, From Somewhere to Nowhere: The End of the American Dream, Paris Lit Up, Maintenant, POST(blank), and Sensitive Skin. She is a founding editor at great weather for MEDIA, an independent press focusing on edgy and experimental poetry and prose.
