Circus Animals Poem by Bob Genevro

Ponies
Dancing prancing albino ponies
dance to the cap-gun crackle
of the lightening leather whip.
The trainer wears
a Miss America evening gown
Marilyn Monroe lipstick
Cleopatra eyeshadow and
Cinderella silver slippers.
She gleams her Pepsodent smile
as she tiptoes through piles of
pony manure.

Chimpanzees
in the shatter-proof glass cages
wear silver chains around their necks and
puff cigarettes down to the filter.
In the spotlight center stage
they wear Shirley Temple dresses while
pedaling Hot Wheels motorcycles and
pushing baby carriages.
Crowds applaud their marvelous monkey minds.

Elephants
dump their dung
on the damp green grass arena.
They are waltzing on their hind legs
to 'The Blue Danube'.
After showtime
their mighty pendulum trunks
crush the rib cages and skulls
of trainers.

The King of Beasts
dead in his dungeon damp cage
from the windy chilly evening storm.
The next day on an emerald green field
in the suffocating afternoon heat
his carcass is rolled
into a muddy pit.

In the distance
the organ grinds 'The William Tell Overture'
as the albino ponies
gallop to the center ring.