circus

It’s a Circus

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

When Toulouse Lautrec tried to paint them he woke each morning to find his canvas was blank. Hardly surprising, given the nature of the Circus of Dreams. They are restless and always move on.

You may ask why there is a door that seems to lead nowhere.

Even the Master of Ceremonies wonders about that from time to time and the fact that he can’t discover the answer is beginning to irritate him, just a little, after 150 years.

The dancers don’t let it bother them much, though it sometimes confuses their entrances and exits to and from the stage.

But the show must go on! – or at least they all presume that it must – so they perform every night whether there is an audience or not. If the whole thing ends in chaos who cares.

They dance! And that’s what REALLY matters.

 

Circus of D2_001cropped

The Circus of Shadows

/ A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

 

The big circus already came to this town.

It arrived with illusionists, grease paint and whips

It came with the grand puppet masters,

Playing with smokescreens and mirrors

Throwing shadows of terror on the tent walls

To reduce the audience to silence.

 

The newspaper seller, outside on the street,

Screams out the blaring headlines.

‘’Blame the poor, they’re all scroungers.

Put them all on benefit sanctions.

Confiscate their wheelchairs.

Stop whining you bastards.’’

 

The bankers have their own show to attend

You won’t see them here

in this part of town.

They like everything private

in their own pockets.

They continue to smile

and twiddle their fiddles

while food banks become the new fashion.

 

I hear my grandfathers turn in their graves

in a rage,

of heartfelt compassion.