those unfunny comics
with their distorted faces
and noisy antics,
brightly-coloured anarchists.
No more animals in the ring!
Uncage the wild and suffering
bears and lions, the chimpanzees
at infinite human tea parties.
Give me the sparkles
of lights in the darkness,
knife-throw and fire-eatery,
magic and mystery,
sequins and grace,
balance and flight
of trapeze and tight-
rope every night.
Kim M. Russell, 18th September 2018
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Come to the Circus! also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform
This week Sarah is our ringmaster and our theme is the circus! She tells us that she has only been to one circus – a small, touring affair, with no animal acts – just people doing amazing things, and yet she’s read many books featuring circuses, seen so many images, and films, and acts on the TV, that she knows what a circus should be, what it could be – what it is.
Sarah says that there are lots of novels set in the circus, but little in the way of poetry, and certainly not poetry for adults, although she found an example, ‘The Bells’ by Anne Sexton, which is why we are redressing the balance and writing poems about the circus – the sequins, the sawdust, the pain, the triumph, the flight of the trapeze artist, the antics of the clown.
Nicely penned!
Check mine.
https://tenaciousbeliever07.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/untitled/
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Thank you! I’m just about to go out but will be back later to read and comment.
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Thanks. Do read.
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Yes!!! I like circuses of skill, acrobats, and such…mystery, and marvels.
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Sounds like the perfect circus – those acts of skill and daring are so much more entrancing, and I hate the thought of animals being made to suffer for entertainment. Nice structure, too, Kim.
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Thank you, Sarah. I just got back from the meeting, which was also a bit of a circus! I’m going to bed now, so I’ll have to read and comment in the morning. I’m looking forward to it. 😊
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There are aspects of the “show” that do entertain – nice reminder.
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Thanks V.J.
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I quite agree, less of the cruelty and more good clean fun! 😊
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😊
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No more suffering animals, but all the other magic. Yeah! I’m for that!
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😊
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This is the part of circus that I like too… we grow up and learn (but I used to enjoy it in the past… I wonder why)
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I was scared stiff of circuses when I was a child and felt sorry for the animals but then I discovered Cirque du Soleil.
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Nice description of clowns as “brightly-coloured anarchists”.
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Thanks Frank.
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Much more humane type of circus, yours, Kim. I’ve only been to one. We were given free tickets to a Russian circus and took our two year old. She did what she always did, fell asleep under the seat after about ten minutes and we left at half time. There was a plate spinner who lost all his plates and the audience gave him a standing ovation which was nice, but I bet he was for the high jump after the show.
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😁
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Fear of clowns or comparison to politicians can dampen ones enthusiasm for sure. The notion that animals in the zoo & circus were victims of cruelty never occurred to me as a kid. I was just happy to view them up close.
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The last circus I went to was Cirque du Soleil – no clowns, no animals but so exciting!
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I hated circuses. But then there is Cirque d’ Soleil which is perfect. The magic, mystery, the amazing things. I like how your poem dissolves into the rhymes.
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Thanks Toni! I love Cirque du Soleil.
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Well said! Good writing, too.
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Thank you!
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Oh, this is so well done. I am mostly wondering about the image of clowns as “brightly-colored anarchists”.
Yes, indeed, every circus is better without exploitation of animals. Not to forget that all the artists — ropewalkers, trapezists, et al historically were treated poorly. I think individual artistry should be promoted instead of an institution with masters governing a troop of the labor force.
I really like your vision. ❤
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Thank you so much, Anmol. I’m not too keen on clowns. Thanks for the reminder that artists were treated poorly. I remember a film with
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Thank you so much, Anmol, and for the reminder that artists were treated poorly. I remember the film Trapeze with Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollabrigida. My favourite circus is Cirque du Soleil.
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Oh yes, take away the eerie clowns and poor animals made to perform and the circus could be appreciated more. Trapeze artists and tightrope walkers are definitely entertaining and so talented…indeed a joy to watch. Hating crowds I rather still watch from my tv screen…lol
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I have problems with crowds too. When I went to see Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall, we had special seats away from the crowd.
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the circus holds such conflicting thoughts and memories, I have good ones, back then i was too young to understand animal cruelty and the circus never had many animal acts as it traveled a long way to get to us, I loved those that we did see, they seemed happy, well to me at that time.
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I think a lot of the time it depends on the circus and its owners.
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that is true, i do wonder now how much can we do to stop this cruelty
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I think you have the right idea! Free the animals and let it be about human feats and flights of fancy.
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Thank you!
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Yes, I agree! Trapeze and tightrope acts are quite fascinating and worthy of the circus, but the clowns are nonsense and kind of scary to some, and the poor dear animals have better things to do.
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I feel very strongly about circus animals.
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I rather enjoyed the clowns.. Free the animals.
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I think I might have liked them at some point – definitely not when I was very little and not now. I have never liked to see animals in cages, not even at the zoo.
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As Bjorn said in his post. Clowns tend to be our example of bullying. You captured the need for skill and uniqueness to grab your attention.
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Thank you, Dwight.
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I agree! Was so glad when they took the elephants out of the ring….and the movement to more cirque de soleil type extravaganzas. Interesting and true: I actually had an uncle who, every time my aunt had a baby, he literally ran away to the circus! He always came back….but it was expected behavior evidently! That was in the 1940s.
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I remember my grandparents tell I g me stories of people who ran away to join the circus. It wasn’t for me, though.
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I saw an acrobatic Beijing opera years ago and it was all mesmerizing. The music, the lights, the costumes, the acts, all of it. I bet Cirque du Soleil is amazing.
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I’ve seen Cirque during Soleil twice: once many years ago when they first appeared in London and again three or four years ago.
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Open the cages. The clowns should have happy faces.
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😁
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Oh yes! That’s my kind of circus!
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🙂
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I’m with Toni: your circus reminds me of Cirque Du Soleil! A radiant write!
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Thank you, Frank!
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😇
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Your poem really highlights the best and worst of circuses. I love the wave the final verses capture the magic of the high flying trapeze acts.
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Thank you, Suzanne.
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Circus as magic show–that’s a good thought (K)
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😊
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Human (and humane) entertainment is always better than the so-called fun one can get from the suffering of other living things… Give me light and dark and uncaged any day.
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I like that, Magaly, light, dark and uncaged!
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So many things about a circus I don’t like, in theory. The ones I’ve gone to, in real life, weren’t nearly as bad as my preconceived notions. I like acrobats but also worry: sometimes they get only one mistake.
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Yes, watching acrobats is unnerving,
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