Pathetic Circus
Kids under ten are free with an adult.
A bargain, I thought, my kids can see a real
Live circus right here at the armory.
The clown was good, but so tired. Had he trained
For the stage? Played Hamlet? Richard the Third?
Defected from a show Leningrad?
I laughed till my cheeks hurt just to make sure
He wouldn’t kill himself after the show.
The lady with the poodles in tutus
Must have been in her late seventies.
Great gams though.
Then the acrobats. Two brothers
Who were barely speaking and the dumpy
Blonde with black roots.
Whipped off lab coats and stepped
Sequined from behind the cotton candy
Machine and sprang from the seesaw and threw
Hula hoops and bowling pins back and forth.
Is this what they had pictured when they ran
Away to join the real live circus?
Mama—I’m tired. Can we please go home now?