County Fair

It’s as if

someone sprinkled magic seed

overnight….

Summer’s last flower—

the Ferris wheel—

pops up

in the fallow fairgrounds,

followed by a whole

garden of earthly delights:

Roller coasters

snake and twine

like enchanted vines,

the carousel blooms

in smiling colors,

and the sweet fragrance

of cotton candy

drifts

invitingly on the breeze.

For almost a week

the whole town

lies under a spell.

But one morning,

quick as a hypnotist

can snap,

people wake

to find the fairgrounds

empty,

the sky powdered by clouds

like a blackboard just

erased,

and, in the place

where the Ferris wheel

was,

leaves turning

end over end

in the breeze.