Bumper Cars – Written May 2025 (Aged 50)

Bumper Cars

I start again.
But there is a pattern
in our lives —
where when you are young,
when the hopscotch is high
and the skipping
has only just begun,
you throw around phrases like,
we are only young,
and it’s only just begun.
and….
You move ahead
even when things
are unfamiliar.
There’s a strange belief
that life
will be somehow linear.
But you stop,
you start,
you pause,
you move,
you break,
you hold,
you stop,
you start,
you go forwards —
and then eventually,
you find yourself
clambering up fire escapes
and falling
through doors.
You crave things
that provide
no happiness,
yet you keep on chasing
more,
and more,
and more.
And then
you start again.
And I start again.
I search once more,
deep inside,
to find
that energy.
that falls through my pores
I search
because it’s a life energy —
one that is drunk
by others,
as you are pretending
to be something
you’re not.
I look
at the fairground.
I get back
on the rides.
But the bumper cars
feel shot.

James Garratt – May 2025

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https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/

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https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2025/