Hurry! Hurry!
step right up, folks
for the most
miserable, self hating display
on Earth:
it’s Buddah Moskowitz’
Crying Circus!
Thrill to the high wire acts
as Moskowitz tries to walk
the tightrope of fame and humility
high above
the flaming pit of embarrassment
without a net!
Watch Moskowitz gamely try
to tame the lion of insecurity
and self-doubt!
You’ll feel the hot breath of flop sweat
as he places his head
into the lion’s mouth
and you’ll roar with laughter
when the beast closes his jaws,
crushing the unprotected head!
Enjoy the parade of clowns
as they tumble merrily
out of their miniature car
of Failed Romantic Notions:
there’s Darra,
the Psychotic with a Heart of Gold,
LanAnh,
the War Refugee turned Crass Materialist,
Kim the PsychoBitch,
with her hilarious false rape allegations
and who can forget Teresa,
the Professional Victim?
And no trip to the
Circus of Misery
would be complete
without a visit
to the
Moskowitz Freak Show!
See the Man without a Spine
and the Mother who Made him that way!
Thrill to our Strong Man
fueled not by magnificent muscle
but by anger at years of paternal neglect!
Laugh at the antics of
teenage David,
our Half-Man Half-Woman,
as he finds no place to fit
into high school!
Drop by our snack bar
and get your
Cotton Candy Promises
to munch on --
it’ll take the sting out of your day
for just a second,
and really pack on
those pounds
that’ll last a lifetime!
More fun than the Ringling Brothers!
More entertaining than Barnum and Bailey!
More frightening than a Tod Browning nightmare!
Buddah Moskowitz’ Crying Circus
coming to an empty parking lot
near you soon!
(No animals were harmed
in the making of this poem,
and I envy them.)
[Resurrected for #OpenLinkNight at dversepoets.com - where more mirth and whoopee await you!)
oh heck..this is a sad circus...and think all of us are of were actors there at the one or other point in our lives... ugh..life is complicated...isn't it..
ReplyDeleteYes it is, but short of the Cirque du Soleil, I can't think of too many happy circuses. But I lived to tell it all!
DeleteCircuses depress me, too--but this one draws me in as I recognize myself in so many, and you're right, the really amazing thing is survival.
DeleteSuch a sad write---Claudia is right- life can be so complicated
ReplyDeleteThanks, but I think life's mostly simple - we're complicated!
DeletePhew... quite the circus Mosk. I'm betting we've all got acts just like these hidden in our own closets somewhere too. Just some of us are honest enough to admit our faults.
ReplyDeleteHeavy write, but, I'm guessing it's a totally honest one and, that to me counts very high in my (not that it matters what I think) anyway book.
Hard to read but, better out than left inside to fester even more. Powerful for its truths.
Yes, but wasn't some of it funny? Does it come off as too self-pitying? Don't cry for me, Argentina! I survived with pen intact.
DeleteWhew, Mosk.....what a cast of characters you have drawn here. I would guess each of us could come up with characters for our own 'crying circus.' Very sad though that this poem evokes so much truth!
ReplyDeleteThanks, yes, I'm sure you'll recognize many of them from previous posts. Yes, I know I got off easy compared to many others!
Deletethis feels a bit like a piece you did a few weeks back...more personalized to you....ha on the envy of the animals...you are no more freak than the rest of us i imagine...smiles....will be waiting int he parking lot...
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a sad day when one is derivative of one's self. Thanks for the positive affirmation - see you there!
Deletethis is brilliant... haven't we all been in this circus at one point or another in our lives... great weaving of a tale we can all relate to.
ReplyDeleteThank you - I often think in the language of advertising copy. Glad you could relate to it. :)
DeleteGod, you are really funny, Mosk! this is sad, yeah, but scathingly hilarious....the man without a spine and the mother who made him that way...lol. one of many very clever and laugh provoking lines, albeit a very sad circus of humanity we've all visited and revisited...and oh, God, in the parking lot, yet! Bravo, Mosk. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much - my secret dream was to be a comedy writer, so if I can make you laugh, you make my dreams come true.
DeleteA sad and good write !
ReplyDeleteThen I say have a good cry! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis was marvelous! I have tried to do something similar... I think I called it the Ego Circus, but I haven't been able to make it work. This made me laugh... I think it's helpful to look at ourselves from different perspectives and sometimes by laughing at ourselves we find a clear road to healing. You've inspired me to return to my piece and try, try, again!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and when you get Ego Circus up somewhere send me the link!
DeleteCouldn't help laughing, and if that is not what you intended I am sorry! But the hyperbole is fantastic. And after describing the side show (as if), this line was GREAT "More frightening than a Tod Browning nightmare!" 'Course none of this stuff is funny. But the tone is to me, maybe because of a therapy I had once that helped quite a bit. One time I stood in front of a mirror saying something like "Poor, poor,me, and etc." until I laughed. The stuff wasn't funny but the laughter made me lighter and taller. Anyway, the crushed head did not make me laugh, and I felt a little sorry for the Romantic Notions (good name for a band). I didn't laugh at abuse or the difficulty of transgendered bisexuality. So, ultimately, it is the total impression and the diction that are amusing--not the details. (Maybe I'm just laughing because it could be me?)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your enthusiastic praise. Yes, meant as a comedy, snatched from the jaws of tragedy. I like the poor me exercise. The teenaged David wasn't a transgendered bisexuality as much as I just wasn't a typical macho teenage boy and that was full of all kinds of trouble. ;[
DeleteLaugh, probably some of it is you - we're all circus performers one way or another.
I love it! It's depressing, but funny. I'm crazy to admit that I have been apart of this circus a time or two and know many people who still are.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dana, laugh through the tears I say!
DeleteThose clowns scare me, and the whole thing makes me want to help you run away and flee the circus!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much - yes, let's flee the circus and go ... what? Back to work? Uh! The horns of a dilemma!
DeleteAh, the roar of the grease paint, the smell of the crowd! We are just two clowns in a fire wagon, you and me, Mosky!
DeleteRight on, Shay!
DeleteThis is so funny, Mosk. :) I love this line: "You’ll feel the hot breath of flop sweat"
ReplyDeleteThanks - and yes flop sweat's a real drag - especially inflagrante indelicto!
Deletemirth sadness frivolity and madness. all wrapped up in a neat Mosk package
ReplyDeleteThanks! Make sure you get a souvenir for the ride home - perhaps some balloons filled with ex-girlfriend urine?
DeleteThe clowns--they're everywhere, and evil, I tell ya--pure evil. A very penetrating self/social analysis under this circus tent.
ReplyDeleteYes, but you gotta admit some of them clowns am damned sexy, especially the lady clowns! Sheesh!
DeleteThis is just marvelous! Giggled the whole way through. I would LOVE to go to this circus in person. Thank you for taking me there in my mind. :)
ReplyDeleteCome on back anytime - next year, I'm planning to open a side Museum of Neuroses and Phobias! It'll be fun!
DeleteOh, my. LOLOLOLOL at this:
ReplyDelete"You’ll feel the hot breath of flop sweat"
And heart-stopping sadness at the parenthetical at the end.
SO well done.
Thanks my dear friend - I've got a feeling you've been through a few circuses yourself! Thanks for stopping by, take some peanuts home for the kiddies.
DeleteI like the biting humor here. Good you could look back and have a laugh at the "show"!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.
Deleteoh, those last lines just did me in, Mosk! Biting humor is an understatement-- this is humor that quite seriously could take your head off. I want to ask if you're ok, but quite obviously you are, or wouldn't be here to tell about it. They do say humor is the most evolved of all coping strategies... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Joanna. Yes, I'm fine - when I'm really hurt, I'm silent. When I have my sense of humor, well, that's my secret weapon against pain.
DeleteOh. My. God.
ReplyDeleteI had to stop reading a couple of times because I was getting pissed off thinking, "wait! Don't talk about him (you) like that!"
That is the sign of poetry, I think, when you capture the reader and bring them into the fun and pain as it may be.
xoxox
Thanks Beckeleh, esp thanks for defending me! All those horrible people! Like Rhoda Morgenstern sez: I want to get them all in one place and tell them to start apologizing. Remember, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that which doesn't make you stronger probably tastes better.
Deletedamn! there's a lot of pain in your words but the power of your writing is absolutely stunning!
ReplyDeleteThank you - yes, most things in life are against a backdrop of pain - which makes the sweetness and beauty even more obvious when those arrive.
DeleteMosk! Tragic and yet I'm laughing! Laughing at how fucked up we are and make fun of it. This just made my night. The high school he/she complex--I love it, damn love it. You bare your self here so bravely and almost like you don't give a shit, insanely laughing as your fingers typed away at the keys as you wrote it (that's what I pictured, us mad people). Love it love it. And its so sad, so much of it, so much happened my dear. So much. You're such a positive, optimistic, compassionate person through it all. What are your tricks?
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy Jo - One of the reasons I write under a pseudonym (c'mon, you didn't think my mother actually christened me Buddah) is that I can detach from some of who I am to write about the pain. This is meant as a genre I call poemonologue, wherein its written to be performed, presumably to an appreciative audience. Part of why I try to stay positive, optimistic and compassion comes from the faith I have (from the traditions of Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity). Also, I have a history of depression that forces me to stay positive, optimistic and compassionate. It's too easy for the default to be negativity. It's our challenge (and responsibility) to be positive, optimistic and compassionate to one another. Thanks for your enthusiastic response. - Moskowitz
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