Clowns

It never struck me as odd

how all the happy clowns

were so less fortunate

than the sad ones. They too

of course were sad at times

but wore the biggest smiles—

smiles the sad clowns smudged—

for good reason? Probably not.

A three ring circus

I was mocked

Then told off

On two separate occasions

For doing what excites me

For mere entertainment

Taken, always taken

Out of sorts and out of mind

Like a three ring circus,

This tamer’s been bit

For the very, very

Very last time.

Not one trouper builds a circus alone.

(I could go into detail about the intricacies

of setting up and breaking down a circus

but now is not the time or place for that.)

When a clown throws a pie

he doesn’t expect the trapeze artist to clean it up,

but she helps out anyway, knowing

that he believed in her, marveled at each step

while she danced on air, inhaling her courage from below.