The Quotable Whole: Island of the Clowns
by Cosmic Poet Simon Pole
Admiral Radio image by Joe Haput CC BY
Island of the Clowns
What if, on a distant island, low-hung,
of modest dimension, on maps unknown,
but with curly jungle decorated,
and pits sunk in loam hiding who knows what,
there was, in times past, a massive shipwreck,
an entire ship-load of clowns, in transit,
and in chains, property of a slaver,
deliv’ring them to contracts in Hong Kong.
On the shoals they foundered, but escaping,
a makeshift society some erect:
hard tyranny of clown inclination,
with jugglers on top, and tumblers below.
In time, genetic drift hardens the paint
and garish costume signifying them
into markings on skin of new-born clowns,
like any island-evolved subspecies.