Circus

It was a night just after we had gotten our hips

A small town nothing-to-do

So she and I walked – rolled – on those brand new girl-hips

Down to the depot to watch the circus roll into town

Waiting with two cops and kids circling on bikes

Their voices hanging ghostly like far away

Voices hanging ghostly like far away

Freights rolling ghostly, calling us to run away

The smell came first, riding the water, hanging humid in the summer air

Our ironed dresses wilted, confronted by the stench

Of a thousand nights on the road

Spent sucking forgotten smalltown economies dry

Freights rolling ghostly, calling us to run away

Elephants and lions, tigers, weary women

Looking out from yet another railroad yard

It all sweat-stained costumes, running mascara – jaded –

Been sleeping a long long time in a bed only rolling

Rolling only straight ahead

Roll, roll, rolling

Freights rolling ghostly, calling us to run away

A man leaning on his elbows

Framed by his train window looks out and sees us

Rising up in one small look and yearn

Seeing something new waiting for him

Slim, expectant, taut

And our waiting done we walk back

Silent, sad, slow

Headlights cutting across our bellies

Bisecting us into heads and hips

Hips so new she had told me that

You don’t get hips no, they don’t widen til you lose something

Me I’m still deciding whether or not I believed her

Freights rolling ghostly, calling us to run away