Send In The Clowns

—Public Domain Photo
 

THE REAL DEAL
—Sue Crisp, Shingle Springs, CA

What if this COVID is just a bad dream?
I'll wake up from in a state of disorientation,
not knowing the REAL from the FAKE news?

In the dream world. it's making clowns of us all.

In the real world, it's not clowning around.

—Public Domain Graphics Courtesy of Sue Crisp

 _______________________

 Shelter in Place

—Photo by Cynthia Linville

28 SECONDS
—Cynthia Linville, Lincoln, CA

The future runs up and
pushes you from behind
and you tense
every muscle
into stillness
because you know, now,
nothing will ever be the same

And as you stumble forward
you start counting
on your fingers
every single thing
that has ever gone wrong,
looking for that one thing
that could have been different

But this madness envelopes you
like wet cotton wool
hot and sad
and (in self-defense)
you fall backwards
into yearning
hoping to find the past in your sleep

And you wake up
savoring a breath of sweet relief
but it evaporates
in the scalding glare.
You wake up talking to the dead
but you no longer believe
they can hear you.

 Joshua Tree

—Photo by Cynthia Linville

Every heartbreak begins somewhere—
a hairline fracture 
splitting open
every cherished word

spaces
gap

sentences
dissolve

hard truths
crumble
disintegrate


—Cynthia Linville

 Tower Lion
—Photo by Cynthia Linville

The past is a place
harboring trains that go to nowhere

saturated shadows
flashing over scorched banks

a place where grief-colored smoke
extravagantly unspools

echoes amplifying
until your ears ache


—Cynthia Linville

—Public Domain Photo

RORSCHACH TEST
—Caschwa, Sacramento, CA

what are we to say
about this world we live in?
only perceptions

believers shelter
at home while deniers flock
to public places

we pay to hear an
orchestra play symphonic
works from folks long dead

who are not ever
reborn to raise their baton
and keep things just right

but “experts” spout out
their conclusive opinions
on how to play it

maybe untrue to form
says less about the doer
than the audience

here in this poem,
Haiku’s correlation to
nature is not found

does that mean it’s lost?
will someone put up money
to help get it back?

and that, my friends, will
conclude perceptions; want more?
get your own ink blot

—Public Domain Photo

JUST OLDER
—Caschwa

deep thoughts
seriously
may require bending down
far enough to touch honesty
by hand

will it
cry out in pain?
or is that just your knees
distorted and maligned for years
stop it

if this
becomes more than
a mental exercise
you will have to sign a formal
release

and then
we can begin
to delve way down into
that mire of memories you hold
so dear

we have
broken the ice
gotten under your skin
but we did not find much to share
keep it 

—Public Domain Photo

WHATCHA WANNA BET?
—Caschwa

The top
stakeholders of
the companies that rank
highest in environmental
abuse

hire a
crew of people
to keep their own dwellings
immaculately clean and pure,
then boast

***

a high
percentage of
proud claims that “it is not
about the money” are in fact
ALL lies

***

it has
been said that we
poets do not get paid
much, as if that was our only
true goal

***

our dog
lost its driving
privileges due to
being ninety-eight years of age
too bad 

 Clown Convention in Mexico
—Public Domain Photo

SO DANCE
—Caschwa

dancing naked is not out of your league
means to become certifiably clean
whether beaches, warm, or private clubs, mean
allemande, courante, Sarabande, and gigue

those shiny barbells you see at the gym
are bare bells for cleaning all of your parts
so drop everything and dance, limb to limb 

—Public Domain Photo

HARD TIMES AT THE CIRCUS
—Kevin Jones, Elk Grove, CA

There is moaning
Down on Clown
Alley. There
Is always
Moaning down
On Clown Alley.
This time
It's for real. 

—Public Domain Photo

Even pediatric doctors have failed at getting McDonald’s to permanently “retire” its clown mascot, Ronald
   The clown has been seen going into public schools to promote kids to consume its unhealthy fast foods 
   Since 1963, the clown has been especially used to advertise McDonald's during kids’ Saturday morning T.V.
   McDonald’s grinning icon keeps "creeping on" despite the plague of American childhood obesity
   Like Mickey Mouse presents Disneyland as “The happiest place on earth”,
   Ronald McDonald attempts to present for its restaurants the same kind of fantasy
   Especially with the golden-arched “McDonaldland” children's playgrounds
   Despite the fact that McDonald’s workers are probably by no means as happy as Disneyland's  
   Such as a beaten-down, tired teenage Asian girl I encountered taking orders at a McDonald's drive-through window
   She said “Welcome to McDonald’s” in a tone she might have told me to go fuck off
   And I let her keep the change as a tip ‘cause I couldn’t blame her
   Indeed, I have been always at odds with the fast-food chain while hating its wicked clown mascot  
   Ever since I recall I even won a coupon as a prize for a grade-school writing contest sponsored by McDonald’s


—Michelle Kunert, Sacramento, CA

—Public Domain Photo

There’s a singing “clown" who appeared on America’s Got Talent two years ago, calling himself “Puddles Pity Party”
   Perhaps you've seen further performances of him; he’s posted online and on YouTube
   Frankly my feelings are that “Puddles" needs to drop the “creepy clown” appearance—
   He wears a puffy white, black-trimmed outfit like that of murderous psychopath, Canio, in the Italian opera, Pagliacci
   Surely this guy could come up with some other dark character or persona to sing under
   His thick clown make-up appears to be too much of a mask of expression and emotion on his face
   And one has to wonder what is he trying to hide under, if he is really a conscientious person


—Michelle Kunert

—Public Domain Photo

THE VIRUS HUNTS FOR BALLOONS
—Joseph Nolan

The bungee-cords between us
Are all frayed,
The ones that linked us up
And prevented our falls
From distant horizons,
Previously known only
To imbeciles,
Who wandered off, alone.

Some have given up making
Whatever it was they made.
I, for one,
Have stopped making scones.
I am reverting to something
I abandoned long ago: doughnuts!
Pretty soon, if this keeps on,
We will all turn into balloons
That blow away.
The virus is hunting
For balloons, they say.
Something hot and fat to pop! 

—Public Domain Photo

WHEN SOUND MEETS A VACUUM
—Joseph Nolan

What are the trans-ramifications
Of sounds in air
As they meet
The vacuum of space?

They say that sound needs matter
To vibrate through
In order to move,
To continue its resonance,
But vacuums, also, know
The sounds made on planets,
The meanings of words,
The feelings of cries
Like sounds passing through
Walls in cheap motels.

I know they do not die
When they drop off all matter
Into the vacuum, outside,
Cream on the surface of milk.

And I sit here, empty,
As though there were a vacuum within,
Waiting for something
To buzz against my outside wall. 

—Public Domain Photo

IN LOVE WITH SIZZLE
—Joseph Nolan

We’re in love with sizzle,
Beauty, charm and grace.
We prefer these things
To talking
About natural space—
About the steak, itself,
The gristle and the bone,
Since we are never satisfied
With being alone. 

—Public Domain Photo

SEASONAL DELIGHTS
—Joseph Nolan

It’s all right
If you prefer
Persimmons in December
To cherries
In late May;
Who’s to say
Which are better?

But I know,
When gorging
On red cherries,

That golden apricots
Are coming soon,
Before the end of June.

And cherries, red,
Beneath green leaves,
Against blue sky,
Tell me it’s time
For joy in summer,
And that luscious raspberries,
Are coming, coming, coming,
Coming, soon!

—Public Domain Photo

YOUR ATTENTIVE FUTURE
—Joseph Nolan

The future listens
To hopes, worries,
Desires and fears
And says,
“I am here.
I am waiting
For you to grow near,
Each, to your own fruition,
To the inevitable manifestation
Of your destiny.
It is here with me,
Your future!”

—Public Domain Photo

Today’s LittleNip:

COWBOY’S TOMBSTONE
—Joseph Nolan

On a cowboy’s tombstone,
In granite,
It read,

“Three pats of butter
and a slice of white bread.
That is what it comes down to—
Everything you said and did.
Don’t let go of your vision,
Since when you are dead,
All you can leave behind is
Three pats of butter
and a slice of white bread.”

_______________________

Thanks, poets, for today’s potpourri of poetic ponderings, including riffs on clowns, our Seed of the Week. Well, as Caschwa says, “So Dance”!

Here in our area, Sac. Poetry Center uses Zoom for weekly readings and workshops. For more info, go to www.sacramentopoetrycenter.com/:

•••Mon., 10am: Writers on the Air hosted by Todd Boyd: RSVP in advance via email to writersontheair.message@gmail.com. Zoom link: us04web.zoom.us/j/358106078?pwd=YzdvelcxOW1CNWg2YnBuc05ZYUJaQT09     (Meeting ID: 358 106 078/Password: 025674)

•••Mon. 7:15pm: SPC Monday Night Poetry From Coast to Coast. Zoom: us04web.zoom.us/j/7638733462 (Meeting ID: 763 873 3462 ["P O E T R E E I N C"] Password: spcsdv2020)

•••SPC Tuesday night workshop hosted by Danyen Powell: Bring a poem for critique: us02web.zoom.us/j/346316163 (Meeting ID: 346 316 163)

•••Wed., 6pm: MarieWriters workshop (prompts) hosted by Nick LeForce: zoom.us/j/671443996


Also this week:
•••Fri., 7:30pm: Video poetry reading on Facebook by Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe at james-lee-jobe.blogspot.com/.

For more about El Dorado County poetry events, check Western Slope El Dorado Poetry on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCountyPoetry/.

For other upcoming poetry readings and workshops available online while we stay at home, scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info—and note that more may be added at the last minute.

And to see the reasons that Mickey-D’s dropped poor Ronald, go to www.mashed.com/202684/the-real-reason-mcdonalds-got-rid-of-ronald-mcdonald/.

_____________________

—Medusa, still dancing ~ ~ ~

 
 

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