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| Couristy: Tourism Toronto |
Memories
Tasting bitter-sweet
Like sips of lemonade
Freshly squeezed.
As days
Grow shorter
And nights
Longer.
We walk pass
The turnstile
Our ride tickets
In hand.
To the midway
We ran
Like Usain Bolt
In the 100 m race
At the Olympics.
Calling dibs
On which rides
We wanted.
Only stopping
For bathroom breaks.
As we nibbled on
Candy apples
And multi-coloured
Cotton candy.
Overhead
The sky thundered
With the sounds of jets
From the airshow.
Temporarily
Forgetting the rides.
Our eyes scanned
The horizon
Like radar installation
Searching for
Another jet flyby.
Watching
RCAF Snowbirds
And USN Blue Angels
Performed death-defying
Aerobatic flight formations.
As time
Lost meaning
'Til last jet contrail
Disappeared
Over Lake Ontario.
Ride tickets
Gone.
We search out
The various buildings
And their exhibits.
We could taste
The world
In the Food Pavilion
North American style.
If you wanted
A limited menu
From selected countries
To satisfy
Your foodie needs.
The agricultural building
Proudly displayed
Award winning animals
Raised by 4-H members
With their ribbons.
Day grows short
And us
Cranky and tired.
One last tour
Of the carny booths.
The barkers try
To entice us
With their games
Of skill and chance.
Hoping for
An easy mark
As they offer
Large stuff animals
To the winners.
But
We walk by
Heading towards
The Go trains
For home.
Tomorrow
School begins
Anew.
Therisa © 2017
Author's note: Been about 30 years, since I last been to a fair, in the Canadian National Exhibition (locally called, the X), in Toronto, with my family, on a Labour Day long weekend, as my dad wanted to see the air show, as he served in the RCAF, during the 1950's and 1960's, before he left. The X runs, for the last 17 days, of the summer. before the new school year begins, on the first Tuesday, of September, after Labour Day.
21 comments:
You took us all along, and it was a wonderful trip, Therisa. What a nice memory!
Love all these memories....I am right there with you in the experience -- great details given. We always went to the Iowa State Fair (before we moved to Boston). The one exhibit I always insisted on seeing was the giant butter cow! Yep -- a cow carved out of butter :) I especially like in your poem, the sense of the closing day connected to the closing summer and the beginning of school. Thanks for posting!
That does remind me of state and county fairs I have attended long ago.
Our state fair in Puyallup, WA runs two weeks as well, if the weather is good, attracts tens of thousands of attendees; I gave it up 20 years ago; the crushing crowds freak me now.
I can relate, Glenn, as I, too, avoid the X, as the crowds are too much for me. The few years, they had to close the X early, as rowdy teenagers have rioted there, before the final closing of the season.
Thank you, and your welcome, Bev. Must admit, I don't miss skipping the X, as I have outgrown, what they use to attract the younger crowd.
A giant butter cow, now, that's truly unique, Lillian. Nope, nothing like, at the X. Just a prize given, to the first person, to enter the fair, on opening day.
Hope, those memories, are fulled with fun and excitement, for you, Frank.
I think we might outgrow the shows, but the memories are still sweet... What I like the most is the richness of all it offered... A true even and a way to really mark the day.
I agree, Bjorn, fairs and amusement parks are, for kids and those, who are truly young at heart. Somewhere, between our first ride and the last one, we have lost that naivete to our view on life.
I was at the "Ex" twice. An American boy finding similar joys in the Great White North. A well written memoir, therisa!
A nice balance of innocence and awareness. Wonderfully descriptive and evocative of summer's end.
"we could taste the world" -- I love this.
Thank you, De, for your kind words.
Thank you, Toni, was scared, I had written a travelogue, instead of, a narrative poem, from my past.
Thank you, Walt, for the high praise, on this poem.
Nicely done. I got a real sense of the viewer here.
Thank you, Paul, been years, since I looked back, to that Summer day, at the X.
Nice memory of the fair!
I enjoyed your extended memory poem with its vivid details of sights, sounds, and tastes of the fair!
The Blue Angels used to fly around San Francisco during Fleet Week before the big show and I used to lean out of my kitchen window and take photos of them flying around the city. The best! You need to take in a fair again, it's been too long.
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