Fall 2015, Volume 19

Poetry by Daniel Aristi

Barnum

Have A Circus Inside Me & Dad Does Too.

It was his in the first place, from darkness.               
Now they’ve got so different we fight constantly, fighting circuses, clowns down.
The trapeze hangs from the palate
And down the throat in both cases –
There’s no other space really – but oh, how our words differ so much
Because of the way deep below we treat the elephants.
Victorian strongmen be in the two hearts
Pumping their black-ball barbells,
A calliope tune, churros calientes, at each other.
Our circuses never packed & travelled to The Next Small Town Across The Corn.
We both stand our ground while animals lose their wild and limp and then
A tiger remains.

 

 

 


BIO:
Daniel was born in Spain. He studied French Literature and Economics. He lives now in Botswana with his wife and two children, and two cats. Daniel’s work has been recently featured or is forthcoming in
Puerto del Sol, Berkeley Poetry Review and Meat for Tea.