Friday, August 28, 2009

Runaway

In the Pavilion of the Red Clown ~ Robert Williams

Jane has gone to join the circus
Left all her toys and silver trinkets
when truth came calling with bunch of corroded keys
to fit the doors of the labyrinth called home
light came crawling through floorboard cracks
to catch the dust of leaving feet
that tread the stair descending
…toward a Technicolor tomorrow

Jane never looks backward
To where spheroid-bodied spiders
Sketched L-shaped legs on dead-skin floors
And when asked to produce
Some form of credentials
She smiles and points toward the clowns
Sulking on the stairs of their cartoon caravan
…smoking menthol cigarettes

And burning rings of flame are Jane’s addiction
Focuses all of her fiery attention
Tooth marks on the lion-tamer’s splintered chair
Legs on the trapeze swinging bar
And slipped finger marks on severed safety nets
Leaving unsuspecting audience
With crumpled tickets and crying children
…wishing they were Jane

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It must take significant trauma to prompt someone to run away.

For some reason the toothmarks on the liontamer's chair jumped out at me!

I love the picture- and this poem fits it perfectly.

Yodood said...

Knowing the audience wishes they were her is often all Jane has to go on.

Beautiful nutshell — emerges like a fractal at each reading.

Yodood said...

A perfect mirror of the "grass is greener" perspective.

Anonymous said...

I'm seeing Lon Chaney here from "Laugh Clown Laugh"...

Garth said...

Cinnamon: Robert Williams' art is catagorised as low-brow' by the establishment - I find his paintings intriguing and packed with obscure symbolism :D

Yodood: from one fractal nut to another - I enjoy the prism through which you have viewed this

Subby: I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Lon Cheney (blush) I'm off to google :]

James Higham said...

The lion's tooth marks, you mean?

Harlequin said...

I love the feel of danger here... and also liked how the last lines of each stanza kinda work together ( for me at least... the menthol cigarette was a nice touch...)

Mariana Soffer said...

Beautifull poem, congrat piesces, its great. I love the detail about jane the name and jane s adiction which is called the group, that by the way I used to listen to a lot, but to tell you the truth my favourite one was porno for pyros stuff, I know it was too short of a band but It was incredible. And also had a great name too, you can use it in one of your future tales.

Take care

Garth said...

James: One would assume so, but perhaps they were Jane's toothmarks :)

Harlequin: can't remember the last time I heard about menthol cigarettes - I figured they'd suit the surly clowns.

Mariana: Well spotted! I did not set out to include Jane's Addiction, it just sortta fitted in naturally :)
I have not heard Porno for Pyros but was listening to JA's Nothing's Shocking just the other day.

the walking man said...

"And burning rings of flame are Jane's Addiction..."

Aren't they everyone's?

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