THIS IS YOUR ONE AND ONLY

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by cate lycurgus

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I spent my best years on a merry-go-round:

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            around it a blur; by it, the arm with a brass ring;

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on it, sleek stallions lifting & lowering—no telling

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           where I’d end up, but—knowing what comes around

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goes. When I wanted off, I steeled myself

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for the lion’s roar, tossed all I had

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           toward his mouth, eased to complaining boards.

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Which spooked the horses & though I’d chafed

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            at frozen manes, mid-air gaits, though my heart might

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learn to race to another music, what

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skewers will hold you in place     

Cate Lycurgus’s poetry has appeared in Best American Poetry 2020, American Poetry Review, Tin House, Best New Poets 2019, and elsewhere. Cate lives south of San Francisco, California, where she interviews for 32 Poems and teaches writing. You can find her at