Carousel

A Poem

We just aren’t rides people, the lines, the drops, the not being in control

we just aren’t into being put into a machine to head into a dark space

to see things from movies that we have already seen or that we can use our imagination to think about,

we just would rather not but we keep being asked, pestered, judged so, we say okay,

and we ride the carousel three times in a row

laughing and smiling together, watching the people in lines, in lines, walking, crowding

listening to the silly old time music going around and around

on white horses just her, just me, just mom, just daughter

holding hands across the space in between, as her horse goes up, mine goes down, and vice versa over and over again

we aren’t dark, dropping, strapped into a cart rides people but we are horse riding, round and round, people watching people

the ride ends, we step off, and say let’s do it again —

Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic.