Circus Animals

Circus Animals
Gathered around the gravel ring.
Children howling with laughter.
Their parents cackled along to the symphony.

They circle in like vultures on decomposing prey. The snide in their eyes and their pouts in a filthy smirk.

Come closer! Round and round we go again!
Come see these peculiar creatures.
Better off with a paper bag and some cheap spirits.
We, the ones locked away, only to be brought out in chains on a platter.

Look! See the twigs that lay in her hair!
Only wrapped in rags! What a creature!

Nothing spectacular or unusual.
Just a woman, bare-breasted.
Wild creatures that must be turbulence.