by Jean Cambareri

The metal bar squeezes hard against my chest

Our thighs are touching

The air is crisp

A night in early May

I should feel careless and free, like all the smiling faces below us

Suddenly, the metal is moving beneath our legs

The May air whips around us

All of the lights and faces quickly blur

And I’m suddenly disconnected from my body

Disconnected from the act

I’m everywhere and nowhere

Suspended in space with you

Your hand brushes against my knee

Why are you looking at me like that?

Don’t you know other people could see?

Aren’t you afraid they’ll read our minds?

Stuck on this ride

It turns faster and faster

Compressing us into something we were not before

I wish I hadn’t pretended to be someone I’m not

Pretended that I’m just like the blurs

of smiling faces that surround us as we spin in the night

Slower and slower now

Until the blurs come back to life 

We are no longer suspended

The act resumes

I think I’m gonna be sick

And my eyes follow your battered converse

As they step off the ride