I think the prompt from was actually Balloon Circus Animals, but once I had Balloon Animal Circus in my head, that was it.
Sad little man,
Bowler hat and glasses,
Plaid button up shirt,
Loudly telling another story,
Hoping for the validation
of another laugh.
It's a balloon animal circus.
Red, green, orange, and yellow.
A giraffe with three fat legs
and one droopy one,
An elephant with a deflated trunk,
bumping into people
as it is pulled
through the crowd.
It's a horror show
of
Bopping, popping, floating, dragging.
Children laughing, crying, talking, screaming.
Strings tied to wrists,
Strings trailing in the air,
Strings drifting amidst
Popcorn, ice cream, slushies,
Blue, red, and purple painted lips and tongues.
A circus,
intentional and not.
Sad little man,
With memories of trash cans and steel lockers,
Getting caught, fighting back.
Threats, fights, and fear.
Sad, scrappy little man,
Loud because he had to be.
Funny because he discovered jokes
could make him friends,
diffuse situations,
maybe even win a girl.
Balloon animal circus.
Twisted shapes.
Adding color
to the day.
Before it's time to go.
Drift away,
Get thrown away.
Sad little man,
Walking with purpose
Shuffling strides
Works a couple of odd jobs
to help the days go by.
His wife understands
or maybe she doesn’t.
Let’s him have his work and hobbies
without her having to be involved.
Balloon animal circus.
at the zoo.
Children getting louder,
I want a dog
There are no dogs at the zoo.
There were dogs at the circus
doing tricks,
parading with braided hair,
wearing jeweled collars and vests.
What color?
What size?
Blue
and Big.
Sad little man smiles.
That’s all he ever wanted,
To be big.
Too big to be dropped in a trash can
the first day of high school
Big enough to be seen,
Big enough to play sports,
Big enough to be listened to without having to
tell a joke or shout.
Big and mostly happy
instead of little and mostly sad,
He smiles,
His laugh lines appear,
His eyes twinkle as skin crinkles.
For a moment,
he thinks about
who he is
and who he hoped to be.
He's no longer as sad as that high school freshman,
But he's still a storyteller,
For a laugh.
