LPiA-25 Nov. 4

[dukealien]

Things Missed


There was a merry-go-round
at Coney Island, at the Zoo,
or maybe by the lake.
Less wonderful than bumper cars
or a wooden roller-coaster
but I could get on alone.

Climbing up on
a carved wooden horse
was challenge enough at that age;
picking one that moved
required noting how
their poles differed,
shiny chrome or painted.

There was, I think,
a ticket dispenser instead
of brass and iron rings
but of course it was too far
or wasn’t there...
memory fails.

One thing I never figured out
was that the horses near the edge
didn’t move.  So simple,
makes the mechanism less complex
and encourages big kids
leaning out for tickets.

Things you never notice,
hidden relationships,
false memories.  I coulda been
Newton realizing orbits
not as circles but ellipses
made the numbers work.