she walks through the worm earth

dirt with a circus mind

 

crippling headache like a roar

of tigers

 

eats a bag of peanuts while

elephants starve

 

she watches a saw bone man fix

broken acrobats

 

who trapeze onto straw floors

 

smells a thousand miles of

rail track

 

and smoke;

 

train stations orphanages to

children

 

where Tennyson holds up

pictures

 

of fairy tales;

 

horse and buggies sit quiet

on dirt streets

 

as a circus caravan leaves

wagon wheel metal

 

marks

 

sideshow freaks a confusing

swirl of ugly

 

and bizarre

 

hookie school children watch

from behind nails

 

and crooked boards;

 

air slams on big top canvas,

inside,

 

clowns come out of cartoon

buildings,

 

horses and hoops of fire,

they jump through

like moths through a lantern

light,

 

in a gilded cage, lions pace

with memories

 

audience puts its clapping in

mason jars,

 

grocer sells on shelves next

to old cans of soup;

 

she was a high−wire performer,

slipped

 

fell to a sound of a crackerjack

box tab pull

 

her epitaph makes ash and dust

her paper

 

husband to hold, rain cries like

tears

 

stands with flowers, reads a poem,

 

“i sleep in your sounds that

call me

i swallow your voice,

your love

i forget this world and dream of

your eyes kissing me

your soul is liquid thirst in

my heart”

 

light of day paints earth,

he feels

 

her breath, her touch,

a loving silence.

 

Copyright © 05/25/2013 Ðark Ṝoasted Ƣoetry®