By Madison
Date: 8 December 1999

the midway

flashes of you
lights bolting from a 
polaroid I never took
and all those morning sketches
lucid pictures dimmed with filmy edges
they dance, suspended in a minor key
moving to no sound, no amp, no microphone
they wisp, like threads of hair with 
windows down
they slip into my mind
and try
believe me I try 
to make them go away
but they stick
like caramel popcorn fixed 
between tooth and tongue
after the dark
after the rides have slumbered
and the parking lot lies vacant
doused with ticket stubs 
and cotton candy wrappers
the ruins remain
tender though they are
fragments, pieces and flashes of you.



M Madison
7 dec 99