Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Clowns



painted white faces
black circles under glass eyes
friendly...they do not smile

they creep towards me
in somersaults spinning
to music only they can hear

I am trapped by their stares
daddy,daddy I whisper
tugging on his arm...he does not notice

slowly, nearer and nearer
I want to scream___
I want to run___

reaching with white gloved hands
now, I frozen with fear, jump up
the lights go dark and I drift away

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Strange how many people have a fear of clowns. Your poem conveys the paralysis very well.

Cassiopeia Rises said...

Thank you Derrick for reading my poem. You are correct, I fear clowns and have so since a young child. They filled my nights with dark dreams. If Big Top Poetry only has prompts about the circus, I am afraid I won't be writing there for long.


Melanie

flaubert said...

Melanie you have captured the fear quite well. I certainly hope all the prompts aren't about the circus.
Pamela

The Emotional Orphan said...

Melanie- What an excellent poem. Deep and dark over something designed to be so fun. Well expressed here and the visual is impeccable. As a humorous aside, I got revenge at age six by pulling a clowns nose off in a parade in front of the crowd. ...and a week with no TV !!!

Great write and read...

Anonymous said...

derrick's right: you capture the clown fear! so glad you joined us at the circus. :)

Cynthia Short said...

I agree that clowns are the creepiest thing around...how can anyone find them amusing? Your poem brought all those feeling back to me...good job!

Tumblewords: said...

I so agree - there's something truly frightening about the clown's exterior. Good poem - I can feel your fear.

Deb said...

Excellent portrait of fear. And yes, I am afraid of clowns, too, and have been since I was a little girl.

(We won't have a lot of circus prompts under the Big Tent. We do like the idea of all of us poets converging under a big tent, sans the fear, of course!)

We are glad you joined us for the opening prompt. Thank you for the poem!

Victoria said...

I don't fear clowns, but fear, I know, and the way you capture popping out of the body, just leaving, is very familiar. I just found this poetry community and am really enjoying finding other poets and enjoying the strong work - and favorite placing a ton of blogs, including yours. Thank you.

one more believer said...

hmmm...never really understood the fear abt clowns... now i do... this dark dark feeling of fear for clowns...