Peter M. Gordon

CARNY

‘Scuse me while I light up.
You want one? Ain’t a lot
of jobs that lets yiz smoke

and work. ‘Course that ain’t
the only reason this Midway’s
the best job I ever had.

When I hustled the short con,
a mark squealed and I spent
two years in the can. Here,

marks pay admission just so’s
we can take them. I’ve seen good
looking guys drop fifty just

to win their girl one of them stuffed
gorillas that cost us three bucks,
an’ when they don’t win, go get

a beer and drop another fifty.
All I gotta do is stand here
an’ hand ‘em three softballs.

We ain’t in town long enough
to get in real trouble an’ if we
got a small beef, local bulls

we pay for security just say
to leave town. Oh, this carny
life’s for me. If I gotta hit

the pie-car, say, for a snack or pack
of ciggies, another carny covers.
I got food, family, an’ a job for life.

Some say carnivals are dyin’
but I see more marks than ever
linin’ up to stuff green in our

grouch bags. I ain’t quittn’;
I’m gonna die here. Lemme light
up again. Sure you don’t want one?


Peter's YouTube reading of "Carny"


Peter confesses: "I've spent a lot of time over the years at the Central Florida Fair here in Orlando and enjoy attending county and state fairs when they're on in towns I'm visiting. I've long been fascinated by the people that work the fairs, traveling from town to town, and even though they are often suspicious of locals, some have opened up to me. The voice of this persona poem is an amalgam of several different conversations I had."

PETER M. GORDON is an award-winning poet with over 200 poems published in various journals. He's authored three collections, and is a founder and past President of Orlando Area Poets, a chapter of the Florida State Poets Association. Peter has taught workshops on writing and publishing poetry in several Florida cities. He teaches in Full Sail University's Film Production MFA program.