Alan Semerdjian: ADVENTURELAND

Fifteen and flipping
burgers and selling
dreams, in one ear
and out the other
door to the big park
of the mind, the kid
stares at infinity,
loses his virginity,
swoons recklessly
at the elevation.
And when the older
machines creak and
groan when bending
this way or that, it's
all about the rides
they've seen, neon-
dipped romantic rides,
lonely ones, serious
ones, ones that leap
the heart to places
like the future where
adventure never fades
and the past, which
is, sometimes, empty
seats in winter, so
much potential still.

This poem appeared in the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of the Long Island Quarterly and its poetry section --  Walt's Corner -- named after Walt Whitman.  As per its founder and editor, George Wallace, "The Long-Islander is the oldest continuously-published community newspaper on Long Island, and Walt's Corner has been home to over 1500 poems written by the famous and the unknown in America and abroad".