Mitigating Circumstances
a rondel
 
His head is a circus. A clown’s on the loose
With custard pies ready to smear a smug face.
Trapeze artists swing in red leather and lace. 
A tutu-clad pig pirouettes with a goose.
 
A tawny-tailed lion with wild eyes of puce
Is roaring and clawing and aching to pace.
His head is a circus. A clown’s on the loose
With custard pies ready to smear a smug face.
 
A ringmaster’s spewing a slew of abuse.
His tongue’s come undone. It’s beginning to race 
In bursts of bleep-blue in a sea of disgrace.
Your Honour, forgive him. He has an excuse – 
His head is a circus. A clown’s on the loose.

Susan Jarvis Bryant


If you have any thoughts about this poem, Susan Jarvis Bryant  would be pleased to hear them