Buffy's My Sidekick

Carnival-Night-Magic

That mystical old night with its
Cat-claw of a moon waxing up above,
Cast a silent spell out into the cool August air
Towards the illumination tucked into the hills ahead.

The spell rose up gently and broke like fireworks

Over the tiny town and its dusty country roads and
Shrill childrens shrieks and the whirring of rides, the
Strange organ music plinking out of cotton candy stands

Over liquor-drunk folks on the merry-go-round and
Sinister-faced clowns waiting perched like parrots at counters, the
Gypsy magic hanging on the tip of the night’s ancient tongue

Over the smell of sweat and unfiltered cigarettes and
Carnival workers with their worn faces slightly offset, the
Ferris wheel aglow against the sky was reminiscent of Halloween night

Over candy-apple-stickied hands, and
Fairy-lit lanterns that lit up the wooded lane, the
Raspy chill of the wind whispering of months to come

The spell rose up gently and broke like fireworks

That raw, fantastical delight with its
Mouth shaped around laughter and candy,
Casting a spell out into the cool August air
The carnival-night-magic binding them all there.

Poem: Written by me, August 2009.

Photo: Kenn Kiser

An excerpt from Sylvia Plath’s journals, July 1950.