Please Scream Inside Your Heart,’ Japanese
Amusement Park Tells Thrill-Seekers
—National Public Radio, July 9, 2020
We’d ask you, please, to scream inside your heart.
Consider others and the outcomes of your actions.
Secure yourself. The ride’s about to start.
The mechanism of this rocket cart
will get thrown off by any loud distractions.
We’d ask you, please, to scream inside your heart.
In Freedomland, survival is the art
of navigating obstacles and factions.
Secure yourself. The ride’s about to start.
The dark comes fast. It’s difficult to chart
the course of cannon shots and counteractions.
We’d ask you, please, to scream inside your heart.
It’s quiet now. I feel we’ve grown apart
composing our corrections and retractions.
Secure yourself. The ride’s about to start.
Democracy, the Slide of Bonaparte…
forget those rusty Freedomland attractions.
We’d ask you, please, to scream inside your heart.
Secure yourself. The ride’s about to start.
Rick Mullin's newest poetry collection is Lullaby and Wheel.