“Wild Billy’s Circus Story”/EarlyPoetry

The Machinist climbs his ferris wheel like a brave
& the fire-eater's lyin' in a pool of sweat victim of the heatwave,
Behind the tent the hired hand tightens his legs on the 
Sword-Swallower's blade,
Circus town's on the shortwave

Well, the runway lies ahead like a great false dawn,
Fat lady, big mama, Missy Bimbo sits in her chair and yawns,
And the man-beast lies in his cage sniffin' popcorn
and the midget licks his fingers and suffers Missy Bimbo's scorn
Circus town's been born.

& a press roll drummer go, ballerina to-and-fro cartwheelin' up on that tightrope,
With a cannon blast, lightin' flash, movin' fast through the tent,
Mars bent,
He's gonna miss his fall, oh God save the human cannonball.

And the flying Zambini's watch Marguarita do her neck twist,
And the ringmaster gets the crowd to count along: "95, 96, 97."

A ragged suitcase in his hand, he steals silently away from the
Circus grounds
And the highway's haunted by the carnival sounds
They dance like a great greasepaint ghost on the wind,
A man in baggy pants, a lonely face, a crazy grin, runnin' home to some small Ohio town
Jesus, send some sweet women to save all your clowns

And circus boy dances like a monkey on barbed wire,
and the barker romances with a junkie, she's got a flat tire,
And now the elephants dance real funky 
And the band plays like a jungle fire,
Circus town's on the live wire.

And the strong man Sampson lifts the midget, little Tiny Tim,
up on his shoulders, way up, and carries him on down the midway
past the kids, past the sailors, to his dimly lit trailer,
And the ferris wheel turns and turns like it ain't ever gonna stop,
And the circus boss leans over and whispers into the
 little boy's ear..
"hey son you want to try the big top?"
All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop.

.

.         "Wild Billy's Circus Story" lyrics by Bruce Springsteen
from "The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Hustle"

have a listen

It’s”Read Much?” Wednesday

What Are You Reading Wednesdays can be a game almost better than  downward gazing into the lit, libraryesque machine in your lap hand.

To participate, open your current read to page 34 and answer the three questions listed below. If you have a blog, feel free to leave a link down in the comments so that others can visit and see your post. If you don’t, just leave a note with your answers.

The Questions are:
1. What’s the name of your current read?

2. Go to page 34 in your book  and share at least one complete sentence.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

 

1)”The Lost Weekend” by the incredible & incredibly unknow Charles Jackson. Billy Wilder adapted it into an award winning film w/ Ray Miland. (The author was NOT pleased with the results, felt it was dishonest.)

2)”The bar below was crowded.He walked through the long room toward the street, slowly, regarding the huddled drinkers in a manner detached and aloof. He was the spectator still, unseen– truly he might have been invisible. the figure out of mythology, so unmarked was his passage through the crowded room, his very presence amid all the festivity. Near the end, he stopped and looked at himself in the mirror over the bar through a gap between two men on bar-stools. He smoothed back his hair, then put his hat on and adjusted it carefully. He gave the effect a last approving look and went on.”

3) I’ve thought some of the same notions as the lead character, I have one foot on that island, and the other in the waves.