I sit in the dirt

asking why?

Why should I get up

when I’m just going to get bucked off

again

this is a one man show

and I’m the only one watching

I’m not even the hero

trampled on

riding a beast

of my pleasure

tearing my fingernails

lying in my underwear

eating chili

contemplating momentary power

while I squeeze meaning from

my empty ketchup bottle

You have to shake it

and hit the end

until it pukes everything out

I’m a rodeo clown

seeing the limits

wanting to jump fences

with painted face and ring heroics

masking, my trampled drifter status

I’m not funny

though I laugh at myself

How can I leave this circus

and become a man in a suit, reading numbers, and saying the right things?

that is a different rodeo

where one clown rides high

even though, he or she is feeling low

if you wipe off their paint

you see their nakedness

hung by ties

it’s a rodeo

with 8 seconds of fame

before getting bucked off

in the dirt.