Universal Circus
by Megan McDonald
Under the big top
beneath the lights
and paint and the
sparkle smile
shadows rise
and threaten to outlast
the glamour and the ride.
Blue liner and smile
the outside sheen
but inside knobby kneed
and hugging legs,
I watch nets and safety
tumble away and
with no line to reel in
my fears can only
wait for another day
of joyment to be over.
I dance in shadow
I cannot see the rise
only fall after fall
under the big top.
Writers Bio
Megan McDonald started writing in a junior high school creative writing class in Hawaii, but other than yearly Christmas poems did not start writing for twenty years. She credits her restart to poetry to an article in the Washington Post about a long running Virginia poetry venue. After attending a meeting of Poets Anonymous in 1995 she generated two poems and has been writing ever since. She has been published in Poets Anonymous (Virginia) anthologies, Poet’s Anonymous (United Kingdom) anthology, Poetry Just for you, Event Horizon and the Poets Domain.
Inspirational Image
by Courtney Kenny Porto
Pieces Inspired by this Image
'I Can't Sleep'
by Jessica Wiseman Lawrence
'Aftermath'
by Lynn White
'The Journey'
by Holly Ferres
