The Year The Fairs Were Cancelled

the year the Fairs were cancelled

we rode air balloons and imagined the trains unloading

angels for the trapeze

taffy pulls, with the clouds turning into sticky candy.

the green trees swayed anyway

somewhere children played on the swings

and predicted their weight in jellybeans

the weight of feather light years to come'

we still will be the candy striped nation

in love in love with the ferrised skies

and butterflies launched their investigations.

I remembered the Monarchs, their stained glass colour

of orange

and orange pop in glass bottles when I was knee high

to the cicadas

will there be jam

I wonder to myself;wildflower honey and cheese on apple pie

and all the children in new storybooks boosted sky high

when their mother's turn the page and offer blueberries,

the last of the summer.

how will we gauge the maples in their red showering

and will it really be October then

let the pinwheels blow in the autumn winds

and we'll tape sparklers to our old bicycles

just to show we still believe

in thinking wasnt it wonderful flowers could fly

with the cabbage butterflies low sailing by

the ferris will launch again our autumnal aspirations

and we will eat the funnel cakes fried

and the caramel applies

inside dreaming it all over again

flower petaled in the fireworks.

mary angela douglas 5 august 2020