Circus Girls In The Street. Poem by Miki Byrne

Circus Girls in the Street.

One girl stands reed- tall on spindly stilts,
bends her slender waist. Her face
Though thickly painted, retains the gentle
Curve of cheek and eyelash. She places
Her hand upon her bony hip and leans down

To smile at me. At her wooden feet two others twist,
pose in acrobatic parody of those passing by.
Their elasticity raises eyebrows while
merry eyes distribute laughter to people
who scurry in embarrassed haste,

Fearful of being noticed by these confident girls.
The costumed trio cling in a giggling embrace.
strike sparks- one against the other,
Happily teasing, posing. They fill the street
With colour as they glide through shoppers.

To beckon and yodel ‘come to the circus’.
Their beauty is un-selfconscious and glows
Through their artifice. to leave an unseen sparkle
In their wake. They are a comet, cutting
A coloured swathe through the patina of ordinary.