The Circus Clowns’ Desertion

The clowns have followed Robinson home,
they juggle their big red noses
down on the sidewalk

and the crowd has gathered to applaud.
The clowns ride unicycles one and all
on the clotheslines of the poor.

The neighborhood juvenile delinquents blink
and miss redeeming social qualities.
Big gray shoes tap toes, tap toes.

Robinson looks down from
his fourth floor apartment,
his zebra stripes are red and white,

he kicks and bites, barely missing
the window, but snagging the curtains.
He lights a cigarette, solitary on the savanna.