The Circus and the Play of Candle Light
the whistle blows,
closing down the mill
of the National Manufactory
as I listen - hard -
for the cracking sound
of my father's boots
on the stones outside our house -
walking heavy down
Ison,
swallowed in the broom-
sweep sound of the Falls
and it's the third night
of the the wide, striped tent
set up on Main
for passing circus clowns,
their
thin horses
waiting outside on Market -
hitched in a circle
to a post,
shoulders huddled
in the darkness.
The tent flap is closed
as we walk by it outside,
passing near the top hat man
four feet tall, standing on
a deep red box,
waving my father
to pay him -
ten cents for
us both,
eight for a man
on his own
and the seams (the seams)
are glowing in the candle light
and shadows
roam, from face to face
and through the cracks in my fingers
and men inside are walking
with legs eight feet high
and taking turns
tossing three yellow torches,
crackling with the sound of their burning -
with the sound of their burning.
KMC 9-25-06
2 comments:
I especially like the image at the end and the way it wraps up how the boy must feel about going to the circus while he's waiting for his dad. I'm a little confused by the "night 13" stanza--how's the "all waiting" line work? And the transition from that stanza to the next loses me, too. But that last image ties things together great--so much that I forget that I was ever confused. The song's not about the clowns; it's about the boy...
my intention was to describe the horses of all the circus performers - in the 1790s, there must have been dozens to support a show of any size (no more than one man to a horse, and wagons would have been loaded with equipment) - grouped together outside the tent. this spectacle, i would imagine, would catch the boy's attention. i'm thinking "out waiting" instead of "all waiting" might make it a little more clear. as for "night 13," i'll admit it: it's a forced rhyme. but I was also thinking circuses stay in town for as long as people go, and with paterson being a large town at the time, a two week run would make sense. so, it's the circus's 13th night in paterson before the boy gets to go with his dad. any help or do we need more work here?
Post a Comment