Looping

Ride.jpg

This ride’s worth a half hour wait.
Even longer, so don’t hesitate.
Thirty seconds of hell
Then a heavenly spell
Back in line, “Yes! The park’s open late!”

Linked to dVerse Poetics hosted by Lillian with amusement park as a prompt.

Photo by the author.

Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

44 thoughts on “Looping”

  3. Smiling I am………so so typical…waiting in line and listening to the screams, riding the ride and doing the screams and oh how awful it is and then….right back in line! 🙂 I just advise people not to eat 3 hotdogs and a box of Skittles before riding anyting circular — which is sadly and disastrously what my son did!

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    1. Once the children are old enough to go on the rides alone they didn’t want me to go with them. It’s more peaceful on my stomach, but I kind of missed being a necessary security blanket. Thanks!

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  5. When my girls were young, We would go to the state fair on bracelet day, one price for all the rides you could fit in, but of course, being that in a 7 hour day, with the long lines, the kids only rode 6 rides–& I never looked forward to it.

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    1. It is a challenge to calculate the optimal way to get the maximum number of rides in during the hours the park is open. They seemed to do a good job of it.

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  6. Will gladly, give up my spot, in the line-up, to whoever wants it. As I can feel my anxiety and fear of heights, going ballistic. My brother loves these type of rides, not I.

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  7. i stand waiting for my kids to take the ride like this one, they have to go on it no matter how long the line or wait, I am left with bags, coats and food while they giggle excitedly even before they get on, lovely description of a thrilling ride.

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    1. There is a lot of giggling excitement and rushing to get in line. They do need someone to hold things for them because they can’t take them on the wilder rides with them.

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  10. Of course you used the limerick for this prompt! It makes so much sense in retrospect! I also like how the limerick (a short-thrill of a poetic form) is aptly describing the short thrill of the coaster. Clever move, and I enjoyed both the form choice and the content. 🙂

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    1. I am glad you liked the limerick form choice. I figured it might be too short, but then I thought those rides last about the same amount of time it takes to read a limerick a couple of times. Thanks!

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    1. We only went to the fairs with those big rides when our children needed us to take them there or watch over them, but I still like walking through the small fairs our town puts on in the central park with carnival type attractions, or art or music. But those are smaller events.

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    1. There is a little of both involved although some think it is all heaven and it may well be. I was glad the duration of hell was the shorter of the two. Thanks!

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    1. As a parent, I enjoyed waiting and watching while our children took rides over and over again. They did not seem to mind the wait, but just kept looking forward to it. Thanks!

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  15. A great title for a limerick, Frank! It’s short, like the ride, and sweet! I had a long wait to read it, too, as I was too tired to do any reading last night.

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    1. Thanks! I tend to think that one needs a muse to read and understand a poem as well as to write it. I don’t suspect she needs to rest, but I can’t hear what she’s saying unless I get some rest.

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    1. I have been on that ride only once. My children insisted I try it. By the time they were old enough to go on something like that they normally didn’t want me to go with them. Since they asked me to go with them I felt I would not miss that possibly last opportunity to do so.

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  20. It really is a wonder for me – how people can bear to stand in line for quite a long time for something that is wild and crazy.
    Your piece summrized what amusement park rides are (to me) without the ‘heaven’ part.

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    1. Some think it is all heaven. I preferred watching my children have fun and participating on the ride to the minimal extent required to make sure they were safe and happy. It is a mystery to me as well why people go on those rides, but the lines are long and my children enjoyed them. I enjoyed them too when I was a child.

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    1. You can tell the best rides by the length of the lines. That leads one to an interesting optimization problem: how to get the most rides in given the lines before the park closed.

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