I’ve never seen so many big red noses.
Or people stepping on each other’s feet.
The air smells of face paint and rubber hoses.
It seems there’s naught but bozos on the street.
And as the rally cries ascend to laughter,
while here and there is tossed a custard pie,
one wonders if there’s clowns in the hereafter.
Is heaven just a circus in the sky?
We met in the lower register.
My wings set her hair on fire.
We agreed upon a moon
and put it in writing.
The heavy type was used
to build our dream house.
A first floor of capital letters.
In those days we were moveable.
We sent keys to our friends
and ribbon to our enemies.
But the roof was paper thin.
Soon we were infested with lies.
Our moon appeared
in other words,
leaving us lightless and brittle.
My wings and her hair disappeared.
Our home filled up
with high-pitched screams.
And at night
we prayed for erasure.
How soon before the pumpkins rot.
And leave behind the orange dot.
The viscous game, decomposition.
Sunrise as life’s last musician.
Aswoon, the fallow season drops.
The moons lined up like lollypops.
Beside the bassinet,
she’ll light her cigarette.
The babies in her care
have smoke rings in their hair.
Sometimes near diaper rashes,
you’ll even find her ashes.
And baby’s first words often
are simply, "please stop coughin’."
She’s a nicotine nanny,
a two-pack granny.
She’ll take care of your young,
but they’ll need an iron lung.
It takes her five puffs, maybe,
to sing "Rock-a-bye-baby."
And while they bathe
with rubber duckies,
she’ll smoke three
unfiltered Lucky’s.
Abstract addition. Subversive subtraction.
Rabid multiplication. Joy division.
Golly geometry. Southern calculus.
Recession.
Principal’s officer. Superintendent hero.
School board stiff. Busdriver ed.
Monkey bars and grills. Chalkboard outlines.
Hot lunch date. Hall Monitor and Merrimac.
Boys’ rumor. Raised hand jive.
Wood shop stewart. Penmanship of state.
Gym class distinction. Playground zero.
Report card dealer. Detention deficit.
Inkwell being. Spelling bee hives.
Pencil box turtle. Book covergirl.
Teacher’s pet peeve. Dunce cap and gown.
Immediate graduation.
