Circus

We put up our tent on a dark green knoll
Outside of town by the train tracks and a seagull dump
Topping the bill was Horse Face Ethel and her Marvelous Pigs in Satin
We pounded our stakes in the ground, all powder brown
The branches spread like scary fingers reaching
We were in a pasture outside Kankakee
And one-eyed Myra, the queen of the galley
Who trained the ostrich and the camels
She looked at me squinty with her one good eye
In a Roy Orbison t-shirt as she bottle fed an Orangutan named
Tripod
And then there was Yodeling Elaine, the Queen of the Air
Who wore a dollar-sign medallion
And she had a tiny bubble of spittle around her nostril
And a little rusty tear
For she had lassoed and lost another tipsy sailor
And over in the burnt yellow tent by the frozen tractor
The music was like electric sugar
And Zuzu Bolin played "Stavin' Chain"
And Mighty Tiny on the saw
And he threw his head back with a mouth full of gold teeth
And they played "Lopsided Heart" and "Moon Over Dog Street"
And by the time they played "Moanin' Low"
I was soakin' wet and wild-eyed
And Doctor Bliss slipped me a preparation
And I fell asleep with "Livery Stable Blues" in my ear

And me and Molly Hoey drank Pruno and Kool-Aid
She had a tattoo gun made out of a cassette motor and a guitar string
She soaked a hanky in Three Roses and rubbed it on the spot
And drew a rickety heart and a bent arrow and it hurt like hell
And Funeral Wells spun Poodle Murphy on the target
As he threw his hardware
Only once in Sheboygan did he miss at a matinee on Diamond Pier
And she'd never let him forget it
They were doing two shows
She had a high fever and he took off a piece of her ear
And Tip Little told her she should leave the bum
But Poodle said, "He fetched me last time I run
And I'd like to hammer this ring into a bullet
And I wish I had some whiskey and a gun, my dear
I wish I had some whiskey and a gun, my dear."