Circus

The honky-tonk of the circus,
the shrill laughter of the clown
hiding his quiet desperation,
wild animals yearning to be free
caged and forced into senseless antics,
the vagabond circus wandering
from town to town to relieve a
shouting mob from their own miseries
while the corporate circus owners live
in luxury on the blood, sweat and tears
of the itinerant performers with caged
animals entertaining an aimless mob to
divert their attention from real problems,
the circus - a world in miniature,
a microcosm of the macrocosm of the
power elite - CEOs, bankers and Wall Street
grabbing the bounties of the stimulus package
supplied by the suffering taxpayers
while more and more unemployed and
dispossessed crowd the American scene.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2009 Alfred Charasz