POETRY

 

Juggler's Reading Test

 

MR DUCKS

MR NOT

SAR CM WANGS

LIB MR DUCKS

 

MR SNAKES

MR KNOT

SAR CMBD EYES

LIB MR SNAKES

 

MR MICE

MR KNOT

SAR CM EDBD FEET

LIB MR MICE

 

MRjUGGLERS

MR KNOT

SAR CMMT POCKETS

LIB MRJUGGLERS .

 

Anonymous

The juggler

"The only juggler in history able to... juggle... 10 balls or 8 plates was the Italian Enrico Rastelli... born in Samara, Russia, on December 19, 1896, and died in Bergamo, Italy, on December 13, 1931." - Guinness Book of World Records

 

Died

at thirty-five, not even.

 

Did juggling

do him in?

 

Maybe that eleventh ball

or ninth plate

 

he just couldn't orbit

with the others

 

or the tension of sustaining

ten or eight

 

night after night

show after show

 

broke his heart

like a dish.

 

by Austin Straus

The Juggler's Daughter

 

I can keep my eye

on more than one body

at a time;

the trick is in

not becoming attached

to what will drop you.

 

Swords, plates, balls, rings:

they relieve the monotony

of juggling

affairs.

 

It's up in the air,

love is;

if it's not where you think

it should be,

be quick! what comes next

may stab you in the back.

 

We all love a good trick

we can't figure out.

 

When we're not in love,

what we miss

is the balancing

between faith

and what the eye knows

is really there.

 

From at the helm of twilight. @ 1992 Anita Endrezze. Used with permission of Broken Moon Press.