Circus Animals' Desertion
Carrollton, GA
A breeding bull
unsettled by the auctioneer's hoarse
voice bursts into the stands
eyes calm
intent and red
among the crowd scattering away.
Madrid, Spain
The fallen paseillo can't find a way
to distract the bull;
it's horns slow and red
in the white belly of his fallen horse.
The long breathless quiet
as the horse tries to stand
again and again
reaches the bleachers
far enough away
the crowd calmly
watches like TV. The bull
and the toppled horse
are a fiction on the terra-cotta.
Greenville, NC
Beneath the white and red
tentpoles standing
like ribs, a show horse
spooks away
from the trainer's hands
eyes bulging wide like eggs
hooves scattering hay
past two bull
elephants waiting patiently
at the door.
Queens, NY
The air inside thick and still
in the red
heat until
the sudden lunge of elephants
toward the
crowd
standing
a slow wave outwards
as the ringmaster's voice goes hoarse.
The slow deliberate sway
of white and red and grey
and softly crying trumpets.
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