I went to the circus Saturday avo- *
there were clowns,
hundreds of them,
seated in stands with circus animals.
Front row elephants sat on specially reinforced seats.
Behind them sat dancing dogs,
prancing bears,
and slippery seals.
A gallery of galahs took pride of place
(next to the lions) in the curly bells. **
The ring master
who was of course me,
announced:
clowns,
four footed friends,
flippered ones,
canine cousins,
feisty,
flatulating elephants
and
galleries of galahs …
Let the show begin.
How the clowns wept—
at my humorous verses.
How they howled with laughter
at solemn, serious lines.
While elephants trumpeted approval
at each example of
onomatopoeia
as they munched on their peanuts
and farted.
While the gallery of galahs declared
that allowing for
weeping,
laughing,
honking,
trumpeting,
munching and farting,
they could hear nothing!
* Avo: Australians like to shorten words, avo = afternoon.
**Curly bells is an Australian expression for tiered seating.
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