The Angel of the Fairgrounds

The Angel of the Fairgrounds lives on the ferris wheel
crawling in fast, jerky movements
like a spider over the spokes.

The Angel of the Fairgrounds wears a sable overcoat and a mask of sinew peppered with sequins.
White membranous chaps barely cover his many legs
and his wings are those of a luna moth.

The Angel of the Fairgrounds is made of pixie dust and the feathers of Mother Goose.
His eyes are scarabs baked in the sun,
glittering maliciously in his deflated skull.

You see him on the rides sometimes,
and he smiles back at you,
dancing and cartwheeling through the girders like moonlight on water.
He looks vaguely like someone you know
and if you ask him if you've met, he twitches his head left and right and says,
"Don't you know?"

He appears at all fairs,
leaving fear and confusion and insomnia in his wake.
The rides rust and the cotton candy becomes stale,
but the Angel of the Fairgrounds is always there,
offering a smile and an all-day pass.