Day 15 - A Poem Using the Words "Slash", "Button", "Mask", "Strap" and "Balloon"

Because I like to make life easy for myself (ha!), I decided to add one more at random ("silver") and make this a sestina (only notoriously one of the hardest kinds of poem to write), like you do.

This is definitely one of the weirdest things I've ever written - I just kind of let it go where it wanted and wrote it all in one go. You have been warned.

At The Fair

At the fair was a man with a smile like a slash
And an old, grey coat that was missing its buttons
Who stopped me to ask what I thought of his mask
And he tugged at his hair as though pulling a strap.
As he pulled, his cheeks puffed up like big red balloons
And he grinned a broad grin, showing teeth made of silver.

He said I could take it for any spare silver
And pretended to peel off his mouth like a slash.
He let out a sound like deflating balloons
And he tugged at his cheeks as though undoing buttons.
As I watched him I noticed what looked like a strap
Swinging down from his face which came off like a mask.

He told me that this was a magical mask
That was worth so much more than just plain gold or silver
But because he was hungry and constantly strapped
He'd give it to me for a price that he'd slashed:
Just enough to buy lunch and to get new coat buttons
And he warned me to not take the mask near balloons.

"But why should I keep it away from balloons?"
I asked in confusion, looking down at the mask.
The old man looked awkward and rubbed at the buttons
Which shone in the sunlight like pieces of silver.
"Just don't," he replied. And with one arm he slashed
At the air and towards me he pushed the mask's strap.

Nervously I took a hold of the strap,
Looking round at the fair which was full of balloons.
I turned back to the man with the mouth like a slash
But he'd vanished and left me alone with his mask
Without taking payment in food, gold or silver
And there on the ground was his coat without buttons.

I walked on round the fair where a boy bright as buttons
Was selling balloons tied on to a wrist-strap.
I watched as he took coins of copper and silver
From young boys and girls buying coloured balloons
And before I could stop it, I saw that the mask
Had dropped from my hands and its mouth like a slash

Had opened up wide and engulfed a balloon,
Around which it seemed to have tied its own strap,
And it flew away laughing with its grin like a slash.