The Circus
I remember when I wrote The Circus
I was living in Paris, or rather we were living in Paris
Janice, Frank was alive, the Whitney Museum
Was still on 8th Street, or was it still something else?
Fernand Léger lived in our building
Well it wasn’t really our building it was the building we lived in
Next to a Grand Guignol troupe who made a lot of noise
So that one day I yelled through a hole in the wall
Of our apartment I don’t know why there was a hole there
Shut up! And the voice came back to me saying something
I don’t know what. Once I saw Léger walk out of the building
I think. Stanley Kunitz came to dinner. I wrote The Circus
In two tries, the first getting most of the first stanza;
That fall I also wrote an opera libretto called Louisa or Matilda.
Jean-Claude came to dinner. He said (about “cocktail sauce”)
It should be good on something but not on these (oysters).
By that time I think I had already written The Circus
When I came back, having been annoyed to have to go
I forget what I went there about
You were back in the apartment what a dump actually we liked it
I think with your hair and your writing and the pans
Moving strummingly about the kitchen and I wrote The Circus
It was a summer night no it was an autumn one summer when
I remember it but actually no autumn that black dusk toward the post office
And I wrote many other poems then but The Circus was the best
Maybe not by far the best Geography was also wonderful
And the Airplane Betty poems (inspired by you) but The Circus was the best.
Sometimes I feel I actually am the person
Who did this, who wrote that, including that poem The Circus
But sometimes on the other hand I don’t.
There are so many factors engaging our attention!
At every moment the happiness of others, the health of those we know and our own!
And the millions upon millions of people we don’t know and their well-being to think about
So it seems strange I found time to write The Circus
And even spent two evenings on it, and that I have also the time
To remember that I did it, and remember you and me then, and write this poem about it
At the beginning of The Circus
The Circus girls are rushing through the night
In the circus wagons and tulips and other flowers will be picked
A long time from now this poem wants to get off on its own
Someplace like a painting not held to a depiction of composing The Circus.
Noel Lee was in Paris then but usually out of it
In Germany or Denmark giving a concert
As part of an endless activity
Which was either his career or his happiness or a combination of both
Or neither I remember his dark eyes looking he was nervous
With me perhaps because of our days at Harvard.
It is understandable enough to be nervous with anybody!
How softly and easily one feels when alone
Love of one’s friends when one is commanding the time and space syndrome
If that’s the right word which I doubt but together how come one is so nervous?
One is not always but what was I then and what am I now attempting to create
If create is the right word
Out of this combination of experience and aloneness
And who are you telling me it is or is not a poem (not you?) Go back with me though
To those nights I was writing The Circus.
Do you like that poem? have you read it? It is in my book Thank You
Which Grove just reprinted. I wonder how long I am going to live
And what the rest will be like I mean the rest of my life.
John Cage said to me the other night How old are you? and I told him forty-six
(Since then I’ve become forty-seven) he said
Oh that’s a great age I remember.
John Cage once told me he didn’t charge much for his mushroom identification course (at the New School)
Because he didn’t want to make a profit from nature
He was ahead of his time I was behind my time we were both in time
Brilliant go to the head of the class and “time is a river”
It doesn’t seem like a river to me it seems like an unformed plan
Days go by and still nothing is decided about
What to do until you know it never will be and then you say “time”
But you really don’t care much about it any more
Time means something when you have the major part of yours ahead of you
As I did in Aix-en-Provence that was three years before I wrote The Circus
That year I wrote Bricks and The Great Atlantic Rainway
I felt time surround me like a blanket endless and soft
I could go to sleep endlessly and wake up and still be in it
But I treasured secretly the part of me that was individually changing
Like Noel Lee I was interested in my career
And still am but now it is like a town I don’t want to leave
Not a tower I am climbing opposed by ferocious enemies
I never mentioned my friends in my poems at the time I wrote The Circus
Although they meant almost more than anything to me
Of this now for some time I’ve felt an attenuation
So I’m mentioning them maybe this will bring them back to me
Not them perhaps but what I felt about them
John Ashbery Jane Freilicher Larry Rivers Frank O’Hara
Their names alone bring tears to my eyes
As seeing Polly did last night
It is beautiful at any time but the paradox is leaving it
In order to feel it when you’ve come back the sun has declined
And the people are merrier or else they’ve gone home altogether
And you are left alone well you put up with that your sureness is like the sun
While you have it but when you don’t its lack’s a black and icy night. I came home
And wrote The Circus that night, Janice. I didn’t come and speak to you
And put my arm around you and ask you if you’d like to take a walk
Or go to the Cirque Medrano though that’s what I wrote poems about
And am writing about that now, and now I’m alone
And this is not as good a poem as The Circus
And I wonder if any good will come of either of them all the same.
“The Circus” from The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 2006 by Kenneth Koch.
poem by Kenneth Koch
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
God Gave Rock & Roll To You II
PSYCHO CIRCUS
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Hello
Here I am!
Here we are,we are one
I've been waiting for this night to come
Get up!
Now it's time for me to take my place
The make-up runnin' down my face
We're exiled from the human race.
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
I say welcome to the show.
I've been waiting here to be your guide
So come
Reveal the secrets that you keep inside
Step up!
No one leaves 'til the night is done
The amplifier starts to hum
The carnival has just begun.
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
Yeah I say welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
The show.
I've been waiting here to be your guide
Some come
Reveal the secrets that you keep inside
Step up!
No one leaves 'til the night is done
The amplifier starts to hum
The carinval has just begun.
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
You're in the psy
You're in the psycho circus
And I say welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
And I say welcome to the show.
song performed by by Kiss
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Circus
Little man with his eyes on fire
And his smile so bright.
In his hands are the toys you gave
To fill his heart with delight.
And in the ring stands a circus clown
Holding up a knife.
What you see and what you will hear
Will last you for the rest of your life.
And its sad, so sad,
There aint no easy way round.
And its sad, so sad,
All you friends gather round
cause the circus left town.
Little man with his heart so pure
And his love so fine.
Stick with me and Ill ride with you
Till the end of the line.
Hold my hand and Ill walk with you
Through the darkest night.
When I smile Ill be thinking of you
And every little thing will be all right.
Chorus
Chorus
The circus left town, left town.
The circus left town, left town.
song performed by by Eric Clapton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Psycho Circus
Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Hello
Here I am!
Here we are,we are one
Ive been waiting for this night to come
Get up!
Now its time for me to take my place
The make-up runnin down my face
Were exiled from the human race.
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
I say welcome to the show.
Ive been waiting here to be your guide
So come
Reveal the secrets that you keep inside
Step up!
No one leaves til the night is done
The amplifier starts to hum
The carnival has just begun.
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Yeah I say welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
The show.
I, Ive been waiting here to be your guide
Some come
Reveal the secrets that you keep inside
Step up!
No one leaves til the night is done
The amplifier starts to hum
The carinval has just begun.
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
Youre in the psy
Youre in the psycho circus
And I say welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
Welcome to the show
And I say welcome to the show
song performed by by Kiss
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Circus
Hey, there! Hoop-la! the circus is in town!
Have you seen the elephant? Have you seen the clown?
Have you seen the dappled horse gallop round the ring?
Have you seen the acrobats on the dizzy swing?
Have you seen the tumbling men tumble up and down?
Hoop-la! Hoop-la! the circus is in town!
Hey, there! Hoop-la! Here's the circus troupe!
Here's the educated, dog jumping through the hoop.
See the lady Blondin with the parasol and fan,
The lad upon the ladder and the india-rubber man.
See the joyful juggler and the boy who loops the loop.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Here's the circus troupe!
poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
What They Will Say
Some times, I wonder if I write for the future.
That may seem like a strange statement to make.
Forty-three years ago, I wrote a poem
that at the time no one wanted to know.
Now it is my best-loved poem
read by countless people around the world.
Thirty years ago, I wrote two poems
and each one won me an award,
but at the time I wrote them,
no one wanted to know.
All of which makes me wonder
if what I wrote in my yesteryears
that then none wanted to know.
Could they all be popular now?
Today I started collecting and retyping
short stories I wrote twenty years ago.
At the time, publishers and agents
didn’t want to know.
Now twenty year on
I am wondering what they will say.
24 January 2009
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
If Life Was A Circus
If lide was a circus
I'd be your clown,
I'd get on your pony
ride your merry-go-
round.
if life was a circus
under your big tent,
make love with you
forever
we'd be heaven spent.
if life was a circus
in your arena we would
play,
with each other forever
forever, and a day.
but life is not a circus
I am not a clown,
all I can ever do
is watch your merry-go-
round.
poem by Heather Burns
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Crazy Circus (just a wrap)
Crazy Circus (just a wrap)
We’re runnin’ like chickens with our heads cut off,
Squealing like piggies round the old food trough,
Stuck on a treadmill and we can’t get off,
It’s a crazy circus
Lost and confused, walkin in a trance,
Common sense needs a second chance,
But time is runnin out gotta change our stance,
Such a crazy circus
Just lookin’ for respect we think we know
But the real truth is you reap what you sow
Under the bigtop we’re up on the stage
Spillin’ and killin’ lost in a rage
Why can’t we just turn the page
Of this crazy circus
Strutin’ our stuff actin’ real cool
Posin’ in the mirror ready for a duel
Now who do you think is the real fool
What a crazy circus
The old ringmaster we’re the main attraction
Always lookin’ for some kind of action
Spinnin’ our wheels losin’ our traction
In this crazy circus
Just lookin’ for respect we act like we know
But the real truth is you reap what you sow
Gomer LePoet...
poem by Gomer LePoet
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Set This Circus Down
(bill luther, josh kear)
Sometimes this road, it just keeps winding
Round and round and back again
But youve always kept me smiling
Over every hill, round every bend
Baby youre the one smiling with me when the sun comes up
I got the wheel, you got the map and thats enough
And we go rolling down this highway
Chasing all our crazy dreams
Ive gone your way and youve gone my way
And everywhere in between
One of these days well find a piece of ground
Just outside of some sleepy little town
And set this circus down
Sometimes I lie awake just thinking
Of all the horizons we have seen
And as another day is sinking
I thank God youre here with me
cause baby youre the one laughing with me when the sun goes down
Living on faith and holding on tight to the love we found
And we go rolling down this highway
Chasing all our crazy dreams
Ive gone your way and youve gone my way
And everywhere in between
One of these days well find a piece of ground
Just outside of some sleepy little town
And set this circus down
And set this circus down
Maybe one of these days, gonna set this circus down
Set this circus down
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Intergalactic Circus Of Wonders
Coming to you from beyond the stars
Coming direct from venus and mars
The intergalactic show in the stars
Step right up
One and all
To the biggest show of all
The intergalactic circus of wonders
Step right up
Come on in
Theres a show thats about to begin
The intergalactic circus of wonders
From the deepest parts of space
Well traversed from place to place
The most fantastic
Supergalactic show
Light the lights and sound the horn
Theres a show thats just been born
The most spine tingling
Better than ringling show
Tripos up
Man is out
Give and cheer and give a shout
The intergalactic circus of wonders
Welcome boys and come on girls
To the show those crazy worlds
The intergalactic circus of wonders
From the deepest parts of space
Well traversed from place to place
The most fantastic
Supergalatic show
Light the lights and sound the horn
Theres a show thats just been born
The most spine tingling
Better than a ringling show.
Intergalactic, intergalactic, intergalactic - ooh
Intergalactic, intergalactic, intergalactic circus of wonders
Step right up
One and all
To the biggest show of all
The intergalactic circus of wonders
The intergalactic circus of wonders
The intergalactic circus of wonders
Circus of wonders
One more time
Circus of wonders
Circus of wonders
Hurry hurry
Dont want to miss it
Hurry hurry
Dont want to miss it
Hurry hurry
Dont want to miss it
Hurry hurry
Dont want to miss it
song performed by by Rick Springfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
0009 Favorite Poem
and you can’t remember much
about the first time you read it except
that it held you to the end, but most of all
this one line, which seemed to hold
the key to the whole poem
as if you were opening the closet of your mind
to bring out something which you knew was there
but instead something way at the back
called to you and you remembered
a moment from way back you thought
you had forgotten
and then you read the poem again
in company with the poet and
yes that’s it, and the two of you
became friends for life, almost
related.
So, now you’ve read all their poems,
feel some more than others but
as if you wrote them all in the same room
where you read them together
and you wait for their new book with
a sorta family pride
and like family,
you leave the poems for a spell,
grow up a little, then
come back to visit -
they mean more;
can it be,
you've both grown?
each time you come back to them
you carry them more close to you
in fact you feel that you could write
poems very much like theirs
as if you’d inherited, too,
the family gift
and though you wouldn’t of course
seek them out in person except
in a reading where you’d
have to share their warmth
with the rest of their extended family
but not say much since
you are a, well, close relative,
if you happened to be driving a route
not far from them, you’d detour,
park a little distance from their house,
but have it in your sight,
hope you might catch a movement,
wait a few minutes, then
start the car with almost a sigh
half relieved that you didn’t have to try
on their cautiously polite doorstep
to find words to say
you love them in their words,
which you almost wrote together,
lived them together;
love them like life itself,
love them
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The world is all but a circus
The world is all but a circus
~
The world is all but a circus
And we the animals caged
To be paraded for our entertainment
The show that is the biggest of all
Roll up, roll up, bare witness
To the performance of man and time
See the beautiful maidens dance
In all their colourful glories
While the lions tamed to bow
The king of the jungle no more
The humble clown who makes us laugh
Paints his mask and wears it well
The ring master smiles, laughs with glee
While blind we follow his lead
The world is all but a circus
Roll up, roll up bare witness
poem by Matthew Holloway
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
quote by Edward R. Murrow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
When I was a kid I joined the circus. I did that. It is true. But it's not like you think. There was a guy, he had his own circus. His name was Carol Jacobs and he owned it. It was a small thing.
quote by Christopher Walken
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Ode Poem To You
My mother gave me an ode poem, oh how I love that poem
The scene of her perfume on it, the picture of me in her arms
This letter I keep with me all the time, I love it so much I sleep with it under my pillow
To her nice hand writing, to the black ink she wrote in, she wrote until her ink went low
My poem is great, my poem is wonderful, to the white paper she wrote on it’s beautiful
To the green words of the title, my poem she gave me is the best
I love how she gave the lip stick print on the top of my poem, sad to say she's at rest
I will always love the poem she gave to me before she passed
To the words in the poem she gave me will always endure
Word by word my lovely poem is speaking to me gratefully
This ode poem was from my mom and for only me sincerely
I love my poem, oh how wonderful it can be
Its so wonderful do you want to read,
Take a look, take a look and you will see
poem by Twilight Simmons
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Poem I Wrote Yesterday/ The Poem I Write Today
THE POEM I WROTE YESTERDAY/THE POEM I WRITE TODAY
The poem I wrote yesterday
The poem I write today
The poem I will write tomorrow
What do they all mean?
Life goes on
Even my life will go on for a time
Without them.
True they give me hope now
But hope is another kind of delusion-
Creature of hopes and dreams delusions and poems
I go on now writing another poem hoping that you somewhere
Will want to know and read and remember it.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Pretty Vision
I saw a vision
Little boy
You covered up your own insights
But I may have held your hand
Or seen the ghost you tried to fight
Oh a vision
Little boy
You strayed down to find the clowns
Oh and when I wrote these lines for you
Not, not one of them was found
Blame the circus and the clowns
Before you blame yourself
Cause when your greatest needs go unforgiven
And your gifts go unreceived
Little boy
Man of need
Who could know that the road would fall
Not me not one of us
That surrounds your golden walls
So now blame the circus and the clowns
Before you blame yourself
Cause all your greatest needs go unforgiven
All your gifts go unreceived
Who could know of the fall
Who could slow the speed
Who could hold your hand
We all laughed and thought you were so free
Vision boy
Man of need
Oh do the monkeys get you down
Oh they promise you the dance of life
Complete with laughters crown
Little boy
Man of need
Did you find the freak show and a crowd
I said cut the canvas on the tent
Oh we were all innocent
Blame the circus and the clowns
Before you blame yourself
When your greatest needs go unforgiven
And your gifts go unreceived
Oh your greatest needs go unforgiven
And your gifts they go unreceived
Little boy
Man of need
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Circus Of Death
This is a song called the circus of death.
It tells the true story of a circus we met.
The first two verses concern the actual arrival at heathrow airport of commissioner steve mcgarrett.
The third emotionally describes a map showing the range of the circus.
The fourth and fifth were extracted from an article in the guardian of march the 19th, 1962.
The last is a short wave radio message from the last man on earth.
Nine o'clock flight from hawaii
The trident is just touching down
We're waiting here on the tarmac
Mcgarrett is wearing a frown
He's here to help with a problem
A blood-spattered curse on our land
Please cast your eye over this map, sir
This business is quite out of hand
The circus of death is approaching
Its pathway is painted in red
Before it the frightened and helpless
Behind it a trail of the dead
The narcotic that forges their union
Is a substance known only to one
To the clown it is known as dominion
It's a secret that he'll give to none
The drug which gives the clown power
Means the circus can never be stopped
And his dream can go on unhindered
'til the last human being has dropped
Spare me and my family
I've done you no wrong
Go away, please let us be
I've known you for too long
song performed by by Human League
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Circus Girl
Written by michael jackson
Shes from a world
Of popcorn and candy
Only your eyes for a dime
Little children laughing
Im from a world
Of disappointments and confusions
But I want her to be mine
I started talking
She kept on walking
She dissapeared into the crowd
I lost my heart
On the carousel
To a cicus girl
Who left my heart in pieces
Lost my heart
On the carousel
To a circus girl
Who ran away
I was the clown
And she was the dancer
We both knew it wouldnt work
But we took our chances
What I cant recall
Is if there was a girl at all
Or was it my imagination?
I still remember
All of those faces
And now all I have is memories
I lost my heart
On the carousel
To a cicus girl
Who left my heart in pieces
Lost my heart
On the carousel
To a circus girl
Who ran away
Two different people
In love for an instant
To see that the circus came today
Sometimes I can hear her crying here
And I can hear her calling me
Dont you know?
I lost my heart
On the carousel
To a cicus girl
Who left my heart in pieces
Lost my heart
On the carousel
To a circus girl
Who ran away.
song performed by by Michael Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Not a Poem Poem
A Not a Poem Poem
I will not write a poem
For I am not a poet
I cannot makes things rhyme
I’ve tried for quite some time
So will I write a poem?
NO!
I can’t write poetry
I’ve tried to all my life
Once, I tried to write a poem
About a husband and his wife
It sounded really silly
So I crumbled it up into a ball
That’s why I decided
That I couldn’t write poetry at all
Am I gonna write a poem?
NO!
Well, I’ll try to write a poem
But it will be really bad
It will be absolutely lousy
It will be completely horrible
It won’t be up to snuff
People will say, “Who wrote this stuff? ”
Will my poem be good?
NO!
Can I write a poem?
NO!
Will I write a poem?
NO!
Well, what do you know! ? !
I wrote a poem!
And it’s a pretty good poem, too!
I guess I can write poetry if I try
The next time I’m asked to write a poem,
Will I say no?
NO!
Circus
This song appears on two albums, and was first released on the rhymes and reasons album, and has also been released on the country roads collection album.
If I look like home to you
If I am your sign
Dont try to understand it girl
When I draw the line
It hasnt come to this
That you can say I waste my time
Looking everywhere and going nowhere
For the skies they look so lazy now
Heavy are the clouds
Theres nothing here that I could learn
Or what its all about
You havent said a thing to me
And you talk so very loud
Looking everywhere and going nowhere
Well I think Ill try the circus
Or go back to mexico
Its time to make mistakes again
Its time to change the show
Its time and time and time again
To find another way
Its time to gather forces
And get out of yesterday
Because I lost what I was looking for
Theres nothing left to share
I need to take myself away
To be some other where
A face, a life, a minute more
I dont think I can spare
Looking everywhere and going nowhere
Cause I tell you when you hurt me
And you just dont seem to know
I inform you that Im lonely
And you still dont think Ill go
So if I lie to you and smile a thought
Its only half way here
Its just the circus and Im singing Im never really near
If I look like home to you
If I am your sign
Dont try to understand it girl
When I draw the line
It hasnt come to this
That you can say I waste my time
Looking everywhere
Looking everywhere
Looking anywhere and going nowhere
Words and music by john denver and johnson
song performed by by John Denver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!