Stuart Larner

The Carousel

The keeper starts the carousel,
sending us dreaming as we glide.
 
We know the mark from which we start
and measure time by distance spent
along the arc to next event
that breaks into our dreams again.
 
Routinely as returning stars
we find where faithful wait on time
and keenly wave our pantomime. 
Then return to dreams again.
 
In greed for speed we bold riders
select the mount we judge as fast,
but steeds that lead also are last
until we race in dreams again.

Stuart Larner is a retired psychologist. He wrote the illustrated sonnet sequence “The Car” in 2016. He won the British Psychological society’s Poetry Competition 2021. For more poetry and stories, see his blog.