perhappened mag
issue 1: CARNIVAL
in the time of the barley moon
AMEE NASSRENE BROUMAND
The Ferris wheel flickers,
the pirate ship crests
to an uncertain pause--
night encroaches
full of drab hopes
lined up in the sunset
like sticky soda bottles.
Sequins from a torn dress
twinkle in the marsh.
New arrivals
find the muddy fields
and park
among trampled grasses.
There’s an omnipresent
hiss--
perhaps it’s the wind
or a new kind of insect.
Wearing a top hat
and diving goggles,
a scarecrow
presses its face
into the windows
of empty cars,
looking for
something,
someone.
Shadows waver
across the purple wall.
Beyond heat dreams,
beyond candy and grease
and sex in the dark,
a river gull
catches her first glimpse
of the sea.
the pirate ship crests
to an uncertain pause--
night encroaches
full of drab hopes
lined up in the sunset
like sticky soda bottles.
Sequins from a torn dress
twinkle in the marsh.
New arrivals
find the muddy fields
and park
among trampled grasses.
There’s an omnipresent
hiss--
perhaps it’s the wind
or a new kind of insect.
Wearing a top hat
and diving goggles,
a scarecrow
presses its face
into the windows
of empty cars,
looking for
something,
someone.
Shadows waver
across the purple wall.
Beyond heat dreams,
beyond candy and grease
and sex in the dark,
a river gull
catches her first glimpse
of the sea.
Amee Nassrene Broumand is an Iranian American writer from the Pacific Northwest. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in numerous journals including Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Poets Resist), Rust + Moth, Barren Magazine, Sundog Lit, and Empty Mirror. Find her on Twitter @AmeeBroumand.