ILENE STARGER WILL READ AT BRW ON NOV. 16th AT 8 p.m.
The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.
Ferris Wheel, 1966 by Ilene Starger
Asleep by day, a steel colossus;
at night, high-powered neon, glorious.
I begged you to take me to it,
centerpiece of the country fair;
August sign of summer’s passing.
Much unsaid beneath bright surfaces.
I begged you to lead me to it,
paradise, found: the Wheel,
pleasure palace, rentable
for one dollar.
Coupled behind the safety bar,
we sat in our private car, an awkward
father-daughter pair.
Urged on by electricity and shouts,
the Wheel, ringed planet,
began its rotation. We rose
above our lives; gravity was gone.
Your sweater hugged my shoulders.
Suspended, we seemed close
to stars; we dipped into their silence.
You would leave us soon.
I saw it in the distance, asterisked,
the price of flood-lit beauty.
The Wheel’s gears, jittery, groaned;
descent, toward slow ground.
We grew dizzy with the ending:
our dollar’s worth, one ride.
Another century; starred
words, suspended, in cool dark.
I like this poem very much. The Ferris Wheel is an image from my childhood that vivid, and 1966 is a year that was important in my life, and has to do with loss.
Both the Ferris Wheel and 1966 appear in my original songs, and both are connected to the loss of loved ones.
But in the image of the Ferris Wheel, there is, to me, redemption (?) or maybe hope and renewal of magic….
I would like to read more