Annuity Of A Traveling Clown

Whether or not you live in The Naked City, there are eight million stories about this villain—and more than one new movie every year. This clown is in many of them.

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The stories they tell always say you’re from Hell

(unaware you’re a neighbor they knew very well),

but Halloween’s over, so you put away

masks, makeup, and costumes used only one day

of the year, every year, for the laughter and fear

that you offer to teens of superfluous cheer.

Your joy’s vindication requires a vacation

because, once news spreads, it demands relocation.

You don’t want some copycat taking the blame,

attempting off-season to purloin your fame;

this gets you in trouble by popping the bubble

that masks all your tasks, causing you to redouble

the efforts you take for your privacy’s sake.

You can’t have some fake who might make a mistake,

some sleaze who’d appease each Tom, Harry, and Dick

(detectives, some boneheads, the best ones are slick)

who might end your vocation without an ovation

and sever your rights for the movie’s narration

as told true by you, telling all that you do

while your prophesies tell what the world’s coming to.

Each anonymous name with opprobrious fame

will change every year; they don’t know who to blame—

The Beale Street Butcher, Nose Red, Sammy Terry,

CheerBleeder, Teen Eater, and Merry Contrary.

It’s time to ungown till you dress as a clown

for your murderous mayhem in some other town.

By Ken Gosse

From: United States

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