November
Circus
by
Mary M. Brown
We
perform in the center of a ring
000000of
autumn labor, the cycle of mulch
0000000000000000000and
crunch, walk the lawn’s tight
rope
over and over, back and forth,
000000stand
inside this circle and wonder
00000000000000000000if
we are jugglers or clowns, adept
0000acrobats
or lion tamers, so many
bright
bodies flying through this air
00000000000and
wriggling beneath our feet, our
000wind-rouged
cheeks stinging more
than
a little until we debate whether
0000000000000this
work we know we need to do
000000is
a ringmaster we are slave to or if
000000as
we always thought, we are daring,
0000000000000000000colorful,
and comically free.
From
Mary M. Brown: “I live and write in Anderson where I am retired
after teaching creative writing and literature at Indiana Wesleyan
University for thirty years.”