The Clown Speaks
©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson
Marc Chagall – Head of a Clown
If I should wake up and be free
of all the people watching me
and say goodbye to tightrope walking,
big top, and calliope––
then would I search the silence deep,
embrace the parts of me that sleep,
let go of cotton candy dreams,
and hold to truth that I can keep.
La cirque makes life a bagatelle,
a hanging-by-your-knees trapeze.
(But still I crave the salty smell
of peanuts roasted in the shell.)
What is this tent that holds me fast,
this ringmaster that paints my face?
If I sign on, the die is cast.
The shell game has its way at last.
∞§∞
If this poem intrigues you, you might also enjoy reading The Watcher.
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Tags: a poem about life, being authentic, being real, individuality, life, marching to your own drummer
Susan Noyes Anderson
Susan Noyes Anderson is the author of At the End of Your Rope, There’s Hope, Deseret Book, ©1997; Awaken Your Spiritual Power: The Fairy Godmother Isn’t Coming!, Karisma Press, ©1999; and His Children (poetry only, photos are by Anita Schiller), Vantage Point Press, ©2003.