Logically, I Know the Circus

Paige Lewis

exists to keep audiences
unsatisfied with
their mundane homelives, yet here
I am pacing my bedroom
and having serious
thoughts about trapeze
artistry—greasy
eyeliner, powdered
hands—and can you even
apply to be in a traveling act,
or do you need to be
discovered? I don’t want to be
famous, just remembered.
In high school I was
voted most likely to
ignore the demands
of men and gravity,
but it’s a difficult feat
when the two work together.
Like here, or
like in the flying trapeze:
man secures his hold,
gravity improves the swing.

About This Poem

“In high school, I was in the running for ‘best-personality,’ which was confusing because I wasn’t very nice. Later, my boyfriend admitted to stuffing the ballots with my name. I think he should have aimed for a more believable category.”
—Paige Lewis