I say goodbye to another carnival—
my childhood wrapped up in its
bassinet, my body rocking to its
commotion. Little girl on the Sizzler.
“Hush little baby,” it says.
I age into debt,
I age into hardship,
I age into photographs
and I age out of laughs,
but I am never too old for
the fair.

Hush little baby, don’t say a word,
if all of mother’s gifts one day break,
you can still pay eight dollars for
a funnel cake.