THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

I am the helium

that fills it,

the plastic

that surrounds it,

the string

that has me holding it

in the carnival

where I carry it.

I am the child in the circus,

in the Big Top.

I am all the children

that are there

with their big red balloons,

who at different intervals

let them go 

while they excitedly watch 

as they rise toward the tent’s peak,

toward its tight pucker.

There the balloons stay bouncing

against each other—against 

all that red—trying 
to get out.

I am all these things at once

if I go through the world

always thinking I’m right.