Alone at the Fair

Alone at the Fair
by John Penn
The fair ground made a rounded rectangle.
I walked around one way and back again the other.
“Have you seen Sean”, I said to one I knew.
He said he saw him go somewhere with you.
So I went to watch the 4-H show their sheep.
And beautiful Tammy who put on all the weight.
I waved at her but she didn’t see
And she had a large blue ribbon pinned
And lots of sheep were making noise
And the cavendish smell of hay and manure
hung all about in the air and the bleachers.
I walked back around and saw little Faulk,
(the one who died), between two tents
with some older boys smoking cigarettes.
He looked at me but acted like he didn’t know me,
so I went to the rocker rollers
where a large tattoo with a man attached to it
shut me in with some kid who started screaming
when the man gave the basket a spin.
So they let him off and put me with some lady
whose jeans were so tight I could see light
through the crotch on the other side
as she was walking up. I could smell her perfume
and her body was against me the whole time
spinning high up in the light washed air
over Allen county fair.
And there were engines and generators and music
and lots of people walking around below us.
Later my mom showed up and asked if I had a good time.
I told her yes and thought about you on the way home.