Come One, Come All

by Michael Dylan Welch, Margaret Rutley, and Sidney Bending

First published in Frogpond 43:3, Fall 2020, page 84. Originally written in September and October of 2018.

circus tent rises

in a farmer’s fallow field

darting swallows Michael

stumbling through his first show

tightrope walker Margaret

come one, come all

a bareback rider

spins somersaults Sidney

the tiger snarls

at the monkey’s sequined fez Michael

a turbaned trainer

closes his eyes

under the elephant’s foot Margaret

giraffe heads above

a fading caravan Sidney