Bonzoponzirama

Juggling rubber checks in the dark

Hope that they don’t bounce or snap

No control, out of control

Watch the fire and the sparks

That keep the neon snakes at bay

Smile with those painted clown smiles

Distract from the files,

File away, look sharp

In those viper fangs

Waiting for any excuse to attack

Bait the prey, pray for bait

Sparks fly and singe the crowd

Avoid the debacle and the threat

To the juggler’s jugular

With the skill of blind justice

One eye covered,

Only partially just

As the cries and fears at the performance

Keep the speculators under control

Mesmerized with the spell 

Of the lights in the ebony sky

So dark, so distant, so vast, so eternal

Hook the unsuspecting tourist

Who grasps a tidbit

Of the aerial attraction

Seeing the truth, knowing the secret

Smirking at the faux pythons

And the rat-a-tat shoes

That flip and flop and conceal what grounds us all