Earth, and: Clowns Dancing Under a Blue Tent
- Earth, and: Clowns Dancing Under a Blue Tent
Earth
We wake to earthquakesand the collapse of beauty.We wake to earthquakesfinding lovers trapped under the weight of betrayal.
We count the dead unaware we are ghosts,our destruction caused by our own ignorance.We thought we could tap dance into blackness,unaware of the ground splitting beneath our feet.
There are no urban pyramids - we are no longer Gods.We are sinners who no longer speak the language of forgiveness.What comes from below is something wicked with a tail.
We live under rubble and the absence of starlight.There are no other worlds and after so much painwhat is left to breathe, stand upright and roar? [End Page 194]
Clowns Dancing Under a Blue Tent
How many tightrope walkers fall to their deathsevery year? Is it the inability to fly or swim the air?Why do we say yes to gravity when we open a door?I've been thinking about leaving. Walking straightout of the house on a straight line, my hat tiltedto the side of my head like Sinatra's. My life is a lostblue note, a black hole on the other side of the sky.I keep reaching up afraid to look down. The colorof heaven is the same color as hell. There is alwaysa rope for hanging the acrobat who stumbles,trying to flee the circus. [End Page 195]
E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer, literary activist, and the author of several poetry collections and two memoirs. Miller was inducted into the 2015 Washington, DC Hall of Fame and given the AWP 2016 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature and the 2016 DC Mayor's Arts Award for Distinguished Honor. His most recent book is The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller, edited by Kirsten Porter and published by Willow Books.
