Larkin Cunningham

Children on horseback bobbing up and down,
laughing giddily over the pops of crooked rifles -
riding a stampede, revolutions that overthrow
stony everyday realities, and release unbridled,
sky-reaching innocence that defies everything.

Teenagers in bumper cars shunting one another,
squeeling insanely over Elvis on a tannoy -
racing like Dale Earnhardt Senior towards
a spine-jarring shunt, as rubber meets rubber
and sparks fly, and growing up can wait a while.

Adults stare with eyes glazed like candy,
as if being at the merries stalls time just a little,
affording some childhood memories a chance
to overlap the present long enough that they
might reach the sky once more, and defy ageing.