Photograph by John Smistad

 The third week of our first themed edition,Your Tech Life, continues today with poetry. 

by Colleen Nehmer

Halfway to the midway, an unassuming shed
beside the packed dirt path, unnoticeable,
almost, between neon cords of butter-dipt corn
and the rows of women piping clouds
into pastries. Gather my hand into yours; a filament
of mustard is broken on your lip,
a partially eaten corn dog in your palm.
Look again – a stained workbench, spools
of wire, worn blueprints, an ancient icebox
the color of wool and well scarred. And our feet
can’t feel the hum of it, but under the earth,
it’s there – a city of unspooled conduit, electrons
spinning into engines like dervishes. Let’s ride
the Ferris wheel and circle the sky, let the seats
fold and unfold and fold us again
into the crease of it until the joints glow like fire
and our eyes blaze with wonder.

About the photographer: John Smistad is a photographer and published author of short stories, movie reviews, poetry, and essays. Find more of his work at The Quick Flick Critic.