Two Poems by Nancy Machlis Rechtman

 

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