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Monday, 4 July 2022

THE FAIR by Gillian Southgate (Winning entry in The Oldie Literary Competition, published in July 2022 issue

 


THE FAIR


Sharp eyed barkers’ weasel faces, painted nags with flowing mane,

Candyfloss and gewgaw hoop-la; girls are at the fair again.

Engines, acrid smells of diesel, new-cut grasses, sneaky drags,

Sour green apples draped in toffee,  goldfish, sad in plastic bags.

Here’s an edge-of danger-feeling; what will the clairvoyant say

When she maps their lives out for them in the booth with the display

Of testimonials from the famous?  (Famous very long ago),

Though her eyes are on the money, still the maidens want to know

What the future’s going to bring them, when the game of life will start;

On a wooden swingboat’s cradle, one of them has drawn a heart.

And the hurdy-gurdy music roars across the coloured lights,

And the boys pose with their rifles, ginger teddies in their sights,

And the girls are dying for their knees to buckle in a kiss.

Sixteen in the nineteen-sixties; even Elvis can’t match this.

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