i kiss you on the ferris wheel but have no spit for it. you cough up your spleen for a prize as the strongman smashes it with a mallet. i had an itch in my heart and you cracked open my rib cage to scratch it. all these fall from grace, your hair burned upwards into the nostrils of clowns on stilts. the inner turmoil of a roller coaster abused for the final time and the languishing promises a funhouse can no longer deliver. you rubbed my knuckles across your teeth until there was only bone and we ate cotton candy until our lungs bled. spinning in tea cups our ears were flung at such velocity that they blinded children. everyone applauded the barker until their hands became swollen bruised and useless. but we had little money and less time to count all the tickets tucked under our tongues.