I found this poem online today that I really like.
Jack in the Box
Never mind how your oversized
crimson nose sits squarely
in the centre of your pasty face
like obese, obstinate royalty.
Perhaps it is the mischievous
glint behind your glassy eyes,
or the lopsided slant of your
toothy grin that gets most
people cackling with glee.
Some, the more banal ones,
may hoot and chortle at the
frilly gag that is your gaudy garb,
while there are those who need only
look at your fool’s visage and see
the silent desperation
behind your bobbling head
to split at the seams or go over
the edge. In cheery spirits,
they all walk away in a stolen
pocket of momentary bliss,
and nobody remembers you sit,
wound and tense in the darkness
of your box, because you are cursed
to oblige, to rise to the occasion
of warming with open arms,
and your travesty of a smile,
those whose cold, callous
hands coax you from your cage,
not because you love them,
but just because you must.
By Christian Ylagan
Edmonton, Alberta
Jack in the Box
Never mind how your oversized
crimson nose sits squarely
in the centre of your pasty face
like obese, obstinate royalty.
Perhaps it is the mischievous
glint behind your glassy eyes,
or the lopsided slant of your
toothy grin that gets most
people cackling with glee.
Some, the more banal ones,
may hoot and chortle at the
frilly gag that is your gaudy garb,
while there are those who need only
look at your fool’s visage and see
the silent desperation
behind your bobbling head
to split at the seams or go over
the edge. In cheery spirits,
they all walk away in a stolen
pocket of momentary bliss,
and nobody remembers you sit,
wound and tense in the darkness
of your box, because you are cursed
to oblige, to rise to the occasion
of warming with open arms,
and your travesty of a smile,
those whose cold, callous
hands coax you from your cage,
not because you love them,
but just because you must.
By Christian Ylagan
Edmonton, Alberta