Riding the Tilt-A-Whirl
We live on a
Tilt-A-Whirl
Spinning wildly off
its track
Through space.
Our surprise is reflected
in the funhouse mirror
Where everything
is distorted
And unrecognizable
As we whirl faster
and faster
Speeding up until it’s
impossible
To hang on.
Next up we watch
The moneymen
fiddle
While the planet
burns
And the circus
master shouts out
That we should
step right up
And see for
ourselves
That things aren’t
as bad as they seem
As the money
overflows from their pockets
And a five-alarm
fire rages right outside the tent.
When the lions are
set loose from their cages
There is a
stampede to escape
And even the lion
tamer flees
But the circus
master shouts again
That all is fine
Because the lions have
dropped to the ground
And have disappeared
in the flames
Since there is no
longer anywhere for them to go.
.
The hot air
balloons
Beckon us to climb
aboard
Since they are untethered
And we can watch
the destruction from a safe distance
Or so the circus
master promises.
As we rise
The heat is
unbearable
And we can see the
oceans have dried up
And it’s apparently
way past time to put the fires out
But the men manipulating
the curtains continue to shout,
“There is nothing
to be seen here!”
The Earth
Is lifting off its
axis
Taking us on a
wild ride
To the end
And the moneymen
fiddle
While the planet
burns.
Saving Myself
The veil sometimes rips
In the early hours
of the morning
When I can no
longer tell if dreams are real
It happened last
night when he came to me
On the edge of the
wind
Wrapped around my
body
Caressing my face
But I turned away.
I began to run
As the black
clouds filled the sky
Leaving inky
trails swirling across rivers
As heavy drops of
rain drilled my skin
And there was
nowhere to hide.
I ran to the
trees, seeking shelter
And he was there
Waiting for me
Inside the
branches
Telling me not to
go
Or I’d be alone
forever
Fighting my way through
the darkness
In a barren land
of my own.
I stopped
He held his hand
out to mine
A cacophony of
empty words echoed through the forest
Yet I wanted to
believe.
The thunder roared
a warning
Knowing I was
about to succumb
To the magnetic
force I had never been able to resist.
Liquid promises of
love dripped from his lips
I had drunk this
elixir so many times
And I desperately
craved the high that would come next.
He sensed my
desire and leaned in
Lightning flashed
and revealed
A face I didn’t
recognize
Underneath his
mask
Leering at me
And just before we
touched
A hawk swooped
down, knocking his fingers away as it screeched
Remember!
The spell broke
So I could finally
run
From the words
formed by his silver tongue
And I knew I had
to charge
Farther into the
night
To save myself
And I opened my
eyes
And remembered.
Nancy Machlis Rechtman has had poetry and short stories published in Your Daily Poem, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Grande Dame, Impspired, Paper Dragon, Fresh Words, The Writing Disorder, Discretionary Love, and more. Nancy has had poetry, essays, and plays published in various anthologies. She wrote freelance Lifestyle stories for a local newspaper, and she was the copy editor for another paper. She has had several stories published in Highlights Magazine for Children, stories published in several other children's magazines, plus she has had several children's plays and musicals both produced and published. She is a member of SCBWI. She writes a blog called Inanities at https://nancywriteon.wordpress.com
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