Circuses Poems | Examples

Amen

We are the last animals on earth,
Sneakily chasing elephants,
In the perilous bush, o Delight!
Eating frogs with forks
And sweet sour cream,
Reading books to dream about lazy whales,
The last animals,
Raising lions in traveling circuses,
To slaughter sheep in the name of God Almighty,
We are the last animals
Running away from hungry bears in the snowy Rockies,
To steal honey from worshipping bees, o Delight!
The last animals to change color, pain,
To whip the green asses in Sichuan,
The last animals on earth,
Feeding yellow birds in wicker cages,
To frighten the ostriches with large black feathers,
Breathing in the golden aurora jungle,
Living alone under the fast clouds,
We are the last animals, o Delight!
Capturing butterflies in picture books,
To tear the dresses with pink and high flowers
Impudic women, sweet strawberries,
To the delight of white panthers with sharp claws,
Really people, tell me, aren’t we wild animals?
Amen.

Tatters

Life used to be so glorious for me
when no one feared or scorned me. Children flocked
to circuses and parties just to see
my great performances. This clown’s life rocked!

The world has changed, but I’ve maintained my style.
I ride my red tricycle, juggle balls,
and do my slapstick tricks that once brought smiles.
Laughs followed my outlandish, well-staged falls.          

Kids who adored me once are terrified.
They’ve been exposed to movies that portray
us clowns as wickedness personified.
I’m grieved by tales that keep the kids away.

I can’t compete with kids’ hand-held devices.
The few times I’ve performed in recent years,
it’s been painfully clear that what entices
the young is phones and games. I earn no cheers.

Add to the kids that fear me and the ones
that won’t watch me and can’t put down their phones—
the ones whose parents favor spending tons
of dough on birthday trips; some take out loans!

My life is now bereft of much that matters
to clowns. My very being lies in tatters. 


January 6, 2023
Tatters Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mystic Rose Rose

Streets Ruas Rues

I'm a small street,
big street,
narrow,
wide...
down street,
top street...
Important,
imposing,
left,
right...
Street of the dream, street of suffering,
streets of the lost
whores...
Rua do Sol
at noon,
moon street
at night...
abandoned dirty street
kid lying on the sidewalk,
intriguing dark street
robber...dangerous street...
river street,
beach street
passers-by street
passersby
hurried
elegant...
Augusta Street,
Florida...Fifity
Avenue...
Avenue, Gasse
alley without teeth
Old Town...
street of creatures
night, lovers...
Car streets and
of coaches...streets
parallel walkways
fashion...
street from anywhere
streets that lead
to failure or to
success...street
of people who live
in it and of those
pass her...
shopping street,
fairs, circuses...
Street of Memories and
forgetfulness...
Street, street...!

Bread and Circuses

bread
edible, necessary
nurturing, sustaining, supporting
sourdough, wheat; big top, entertainment
laughing, clowning, applauding
nomadic, enjoyable
circuses

written January 14, 2022

Cliff

Marvel of fond Mother-Nature,
Carefully carved nomenclature!
Mountains fold hands toward blue skies,
Where stars flutter, like, butterflies! 
Water-waves warmly wash the feet,
Fleets on sleets meet around and greet! 
High, steep, sharply molded boulders,
Stand in accord holding shoulders...!

Solitary human standing,
On a broken cliff crash-landing!
A bird flying around its edge,
To build her nest, finding no hedge!
An owl dwelling in a small hole,
Lost as though with a restless soul!
Bats, waiting for the silent night,
Alike, are, bleak views of cliff- sight...!
	
Suffering writs of erosion, 
Churned by chisels of corrosion!
Carved, compiled, combined, conditioned,
Into wild bird-beaks protruded!
Steeply, slippery, surfaces,
Sloppy, soapy, still, circuses!
Cliff has its captivating charm,
That until disturbed does no harm...!



11 January 2022 
C Form - Couplet Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France

The Colorful Now

On the museum walls, a many hued color explosion,
As in varicolored gardens where beauty is spoken,
Or emerald forests where strange wildness thrives,
Scarlet macaws, blue frogs and orchid bee hives!

On nameless city streets, a steady fashion parade,
And sunshine orchards where luscious fruit is made.
Circuses and carnivals, with clowns and balloons,
And seeing flamingos dancing, on golden afternoons.

And popular culture in its varied shades and styles,
Painting upon the times, many appreciative smiles.
And the blur of lovely cars, sleek on the highway,
Heading toward red sunset, no thought of yesterday!

Clouds-Rain

CLOUDS-RAIN
Clouds-circuses are moving in the sky.
Sometimes low sometimes very high.
Some move slow some very fast
in the blue sky which is very vast
While these move collide in clash
Thunder is there after every flash.
When time prevails it begins to rain
over all the buildings and the plane.
It is drizzling then there are showers
Rain would continue for many hours.
Water flows to pools and some lakes
Rivers become flooded without brakes.
Rain wets air and cools the weather.
Birds of same feather enjoy together.
Rain is useful for growth of every crop
Seas are full of life from bottom to top
Rain gives green look to trees and grass.
It beautifies the nature we come across.

Streets

I'm a small street,
a big street,
narrow,
wide ...
Street,
top street ...
Important,
imposing,
left,
right ...
Street of the dream, street suffered,
streets of the lost
prostitutes ...
Rua do Sol
at noon,
Moon Street
in the evening...
Abandoned dirty street
chit lying on the sidewalk,
intriguing gloomy street
burglar ... dangerous street ...
Street,
beach street
passers-by street
wanderers
hurried
elegant ...
Augusta Street,
Florida ... Farm
Avenue...
Avenue, Gasse
toothless alley
Vilha Velha ...
Street of the creatures
night lovers ...
Streets of cars and
of coaches ... streets
parallel, walkways
of fashion ...
Street from anywhere
streets that lead
to failure or to
success ... street
of people who live
in it and those
go through it ...
Street of shops,
fairs, circuses ...
Street of souvenirs and
forgetfulness...
Street, street ...!

Dr Goo Goo

Dr. Goo Goo lives in the clouds with God
Follow his instructions to the T when sick
Take two aspirin and call him in the morning
Right now is good.  Never is even better

Fevers come with a cough and a quack
Not all doctors are created equal
Some live under rocks or bridges
Deliver babies when not playing golf

Goo Goo wears a mask at Sunday services
Performs surgery on high wires at circuses
Sports the letter G on white pajamas
As a reminder; Who is God and who is not  

Surgery on tightropes, scalpel between the teeth
Comes easy with his degrees of certain certainty
With expertise he keeps patients in stitches
But do not laugh when asphyxiated

When the doctor falls do not applaud
Audiences should stay in their seats            
For no particular reason
Safety nets and parachutes get lost

Dr. Goo Goo fixes us before we go wrong
Before we return back to ash and dust
From that stuff, primordial goo called humans
Who come with medical and dental plans included

Big Top Polka Dots

knabstrup starstruck
                                     a galloping galaxy 

                                      polka dot ponies







*Knabstrup Horse - Knabstrupper, a Danish breed of spotted horse 
  often used in circuses for their striking coats.

*haiku form with poetic license

01/18/19

For Edward Ibeh's 
Polka Dots Poetry Contest

Juggling While Struggling

If life's giving you trouble,
Last thing to do is to juggle.

The circuses' greatest master,
Made a performance disaster.

He was too old for the show,
But couldn't let go.

One throw went bad, then two, then three,
The audience thought, how bad can this be?

With each ball he'd drop,
The crowd thought he'd stop.

But he struggled bravely on,
As the drums drummed along.

The patrons picked up the beat, started to cheer,
The further he got, he lost all his fear.

His famous ten ring toss was his final thing,
Completed it perfectly, bowed in center ring.

Looked to the lights to give thanks and praise,
He'll remember the applause till his final days.

So on the journey of life no matter how old you are,
From collective compassion, you'll never be far.

Aging skills needn't be befuddling,
Go ahead, keep juggling while struggling.

Legendary Country Rocker

on tour, gone to the mountain, raising the roof,

keeping time w/ the music of the spheres;

down that old, ecstatic, out-of-the Way-

honky tonk highway,

a star blazing brighter

in the mystery of the night

in the heart of the desert.


***


(Usury is dead, not God.

There're no bloodied, dancing bears

in the three-ring circus.

There're no circuses.

There's only bread.

There's no organ grinder's cowed monkey,

cap and beggar's cup in hand.

Sweeping, the river runs fuller.

Cacti grow taller, more thoroughgoing,

desert blooms burgeoning,

blooming richer in the moonlight.)


***


Real deal,


saint and sinner,


hunkered thundering over his drum kit,


and coolest in dark shades in the heat and


glare of the spotlight,


he beams, Buddha-like.

Anthropomorphic

A sinuous stimulus of a simulous is not a volcanic cloud. Nor is it a rock. It is merely the circumference of an atom that demonstrates a wheel. Wow. Fantastic. How interred in a bit is the better knowledge of the trees. But how obnoxious is a crawling Lamborghini slug. Racing. Wriggling. And who is to be supposed that a deity is neither a table nor a pot. Potion not a rotation of a spinning xxxxz and a portly partridge waving. Hahaha mystical deities with sponges dancing. Hahaha moonbeam circuses cheering. Cater not a calibre. And a dust bomb moving very quickly. Xxxxx anthropomorphic Z

Fanciful Flight of Frilled Imagination

Sure... an old man in ballet slippers
can make you smile,
but soon, he too must
don overalls and mud boots.
Tabby cats turning cartwheels
and curly-haired dogs
in dotted clown suits
can take your mind to
funny places for awhile,
but eventually the crocodile circuses
and that tattooed frog
plowing apricot fields
must disappear, as forbidden
fruits cannot be glued
back onto trees.
So dream while you can,
go to whimsical isles,
drink coconut wine
and glide over the seas,
tango with lovers,
sing Sinatra songs,
cry with a friend and
jump in mud puddles-
forgive yourself and flout the wind
then begin the new day Hercules strong.

Bread and Circuses

"It is hard not to write satire," the ancient writer Juvenal wrote almost 
2 milennia ago.

The times now mirror almost too well the decline of the Roman empire.
"Panem et circenses" or bread and circuses was his disgust near the end when Romans were distributed free bread and attended bloody spectacles.

Let's see, may be MacDonalds and television could be bread and circuses today!
Bread and circuses has also become a general term for government policies that seek short-term solutions to public unrest.

Yes, Juvenal, it has become just too easy to write satire today!


See my complete essay at www.http://thomasjamesmartin.com/breadcircus.htm

• Short Circuses Poems
• Famous Circuses Poems
• Best Circuses Poems
• Read Circuses Poems
• Long Circuses Poems
• Circuses Quotes