Lee Stockdale
Love hangs in the balance at the Fiancée Arcade,
cotton candy is a bush in flames,
children never get lost no matter how young,
run around unaccompanied by fiancée fathers
aiming balls at pyramid cans,
tossing rings to win bears as large as a human,
until a bear at the top of the Ferris wheel
fights for the right to have a wife of his own.
Delirious fiancées below oblivious
to the fighting bear, the hook ’n’ ladder,
unaware all rides are suspended,
the mustachioed weight guesser has stopped guessing weights,
the strong man appears less strong and drinks coffee
with the fiancée contortionist who dreams out loud
of the man who contorts even better than she,
how they’ll marry and raise contortionist children,
make a name for themselves, The Contorting Mullers,
be the big act at the Married Arcade.