An Acrobat

by Ken Letko

 

His props can get aboard

the wrong train or a stage

hand can forget to turn up

 

the lights or bring down

the curtain. The audience

can refuse to applaud,

 

ignore the most difficult

trick or even forget

to show up. The coach

 

sometimes yells when

no one is at fault

or when the performance

 

is tight as leotards.

But an acrobat must rely

on gravity to pull on him

 

and his body to pull back.

 

(Ken Letko is an instructor in the English department of Bowling Green State University and the new "Juggler's World" poetry editor. lf you have juggling poems for consideration in this magazine, submit them to him c/o the English Department, BGSU.