Poem 77

The second of the two clown poems (see Poem 31) … imagination vs science – science the winner on the day …

The Clown Falling

The clown goes floating off
      down a chasm
chronically unable to answer this or that
question about air pressure
                  velocity
                  or history
he kicks his legs one of his pom-pom slippers
           flies off
disappearing into the blue above
                                      he wonders
briefly if more pom-poms
might have done the trick
                            weighted him
so lightly
he fell
up

instead he shakes hands with stone
splattering his own thin stratum
over the ribs of some carelessly parked
marine reptile

                the slipper arrives towards the end
                of the Clownocene era