ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴜꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴛʀᴀɢᴇᴅɪᴇꜱ

the show must go on

the show must go on

the masked dancers
bold and brilliant
dress themselves in reds and golds
to distract from the scars that litter their bodies

my mother
attempts to face the lion
forcing another innocent animal into the fire
to endure the screaming pain and crack of the whip
all in the name of of entertainment

the trapezeists
fly above the crowd in grandiose, sweeping motions
tense with the fear of failure
burned with the knowledge they will never be as free
as the birds they emulate

i dance on a tightrope
the screaming of the cheering crowds
makes me wonder if they know the stakes
what they would do if i fell

the circus
bold and bright
entertaining and dangerous
is slowly killing us
it's own performers treated like puppets on a string
striped of our humanity
robbed of our decency

at night the cries of my companions
form a silent symphony
but the show must go on
they demand to be entertained