Little Clown, My Heart

Little clown, my heart,

Spangled again and lopsided,

Handstands and Peking pirouettes,

Backflips snapping open like

A carpenter’s hinged ruler,

Little gimp-footed hurray,

Paper parasol of pleasures,

Fleshy undertongue of sorrows,

Sweet potato plant of my addictions,

Acapulco cliff-diver corazón,

Fine as an obsidian dagger,

Alley-oop and here we go

Into the froth, my life,

Into the flames!