jugglers juggle, tumblers tumble, stilt walkers stumble
Alyson lives in the UK, writing dark fiction and poetry, which has appeared on the Horror Tree site, in anthologies – DeadCades, Women in Horror Annual 2, Trembling with Fear 1 &2, Coffin Bell Journal 1.Her poetry has appeared on Words for the Wild, the charity anthology Indra’s Net, The Five-Two, Stories from Stone and as part of an ‘exquisite corpse’ poem on space and time magazine. She performs at open mics, teaches, edits and lives with her family which includes 4 rescue animals.
https://alysonfayewordpress.wordpress.com/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alyson-Faye/e/B01NBYSLRT
Carnival
Under the canopy of stars
garish side stalls huddle,
jugglers juggle,
tumblers tumble,
stilt walkers stumble.
Its beating heart – the carousel’s stable
of peeling painted steeds
froth and rear.
Candyfloss lips, sugar cane steps,
miniature Charlie Chaplins dance
eating liquorice shoelaces gripped in grubby fists.
Balloons,
tug, rip their tethers
stippling amber sky
in primary palettes. Pop guns burst,
hot dogs and liverwurst.
Behind black lace veils
Esmeralda, Palm and Tarot Reader promises
a long life, gentle dreams,
no savage losses, rich with Hope –
A Depression’s richest currency.
The carnies toss up guy ropes,
paint their faces, mutating
into clowns, gurning for the crowds.
Spinning their web of penny dreams and lies,
laying a patina across the dusk.
Alyson Faye
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