The Show Must Go

Tonight I am a clown

A riot of rainbows and rhinestones

Not one but two tutus of tulle

Flair flinging fantasy

With cascades of curls.

Tonight I make mirth,

for three hours in scene,

three nights every week,

three weeks this October

in this traumatized town.

Tonight is twelve nights

past twelve months

marked by mourning

nine dozen neighbors lost

to the floods mud and landslides

not to mention nine months

since the death of a dreamed land

rewriting history

revising

national identity

erasing humanity

kidnapping

brutalizing demonizing destroying

lives and possible futures in the interest of

a tiny few who

cannot have enough

cannot consume enough

cannot take enough

until the whole dead husk of this world

is theirs alone.

This is not that kind of circus.

Tonight I am a clown

Bringing little kids giggles

And parents some peace

With safe banter scripted

And jolly jokes memorized

I cannot trust myself to improvise.

In a purple top hat and improbable boots

shit-kickin' fascist-stompin' Bring-It-On Boots

repurposed repainted

reminders of joy

and of play

of the brilliance of children

the fine art of laughter

resilience

and survival

Ditching politics for party tricks and

disaster for absurdist interpretive dance

in my stars and striped pants

on five-inch painted platforms

where the world can't knock me down

For tonight I am a clown.