every day is Halloween
clowns are terrorizing France
you need an oxygen mask to step out the door
the pet food industry could feed most of Africa
the military budget could finance the terraformation of Mars
it’s ugly out there and a thousand times scarier
holing up in a small room changes nothing
pontificating in poesy is like farting in the dark
yelling about it to the Government, another dead end
the clowns have a monopoly on misery and ecstasy
some people like clowns but these days for the most part
they seem to have a pretty bad rap
especially in Montpellier where a pedestrian
was recently beaten with a tire iron by yet another Bobo
say one of ‘em appears at the door on October 31st
maybe a nice caramel apple for a treat
laced with cyanide
see?
Jay Passer’s work was first published in Caliban magazine in 1988. He lives in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, the city of his birth.
Your One Phone Call 