Red noses
Making me laugh
And alternately
Running around
In a maze
Scaring people
Because they
Paid their
Tickets to be so.
Fear
Fun
Folly.
It was the first thing
I ever saw my dad
Make…
A drawing
A painting
Of the Barnum
And Bailey's
Clown…
He never looked
At a picture prior
To doing it
I knew
Even then
That he was
Drawing it
In such a way
As to make it hard
For me to know
Till the very end
What it was
He was making.
It was magick.
Black ink.
Watercolors
Of red and blue
Bright blue
That became
My favorite color…
It was the first
And the last thing
My father ever made
As an artist.
I saw all the pictures he made
And I remember thinking
What a waste…
Vowing to never let
That happen to me
To scorn god's gift…
And till this day
I still remember
That clown.
