Stagnation
by Jack Hartley
Chipped paint turns with the carousel, a blur of canary and phthalo and rust. The music ends in grinding notes. You slide from your yellowed horse with the gouge in its flank, its mouth eternally open in a whinny or a scream. This time, you think, you must have made it miles. When you step off you kick up dust in the grass. The stalls all look oddly familiar.
Jack Apollo Hartley (@jackpollyharts) is a bi trans writer and poet who spends too much time making inspiration playlists. His poems can be found in perhappened mag, Southchild Lit, opia mag, and other lovely places.