Oh, the carnies
- Feb 17, 2023
- 1 min read
by Tina Barry
I tell Henrietta how the flaps of carnival trucks waved like dirty elephants’ ears. In a day, the parking lot of our small strip mall reeked of all things sweet, and the twin tracks of the roller coaster carved arches in the sky. Carnies lounged in the sun, smoked in dormant teacups of a ride, snored in its saucers. One’s teeth glinted gold. At night they strutted, tough toms, shirts opened to cords of chest hair twisting north of their waistbands, cords I wanted to paddle a boat down. One pulled his girlfriend into the darkness between tents, pushed himself against her. The night jittered with dunk-tank shrieks and mallets whacking moles, but I swear, I could hear her sigh.
Tina Barry is the author of Beautiful Raft and Mall Flower. Her writing can be found in Rattle, The Best Small Fictions 2020 (spotlighted story) and 2016, The American Poetry Journal, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Gyroscope Review, the Fourth River, The Maryland Literary Review, Nasty Women Poets anthology, Feckless Cunt, and upcoming in the South Florida Poetry Journal and Thimble. She is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and has several Best of the Net nods. She teaches at The Poetry Barn and Writers.com.
