Middletown Circus (Original Poetry)

This piece took me over 6 months to complete. Please comment and let me know what you think this poem is about. What is the message?

The big-top reaches to the sky
The concession stands are all in their places
Awaiting the arrival of the crowds
You can see the smiles on the young people’s faces
Come one, come all, step right up
The show is about to begin
Inside the tent where the magic happens
Won’t you step right in
There’s so much to see and do
This place will overload your senses
You think you know what you’re about to experience
But we’ll smash all of your pretenses
If there is one thing which you must know
A lesson to take with you when you go
A day at the Middletown Circus
Will change you more than you could ever know

The Ringmaster’s daughter 
Can make you hard when she looks at you that way
She’s not just another pretty face
She’s going to run this whole place someday
There’s a reason that she never goes out
And turns down every invitation
She’s back in her trailer
Laying out her plan for world domination
But when she does dole out her love like breadcrumbs
You’ll want to be the first one there
When you find out that you’ve been used
You won’t even damn well care
And after the sun disappears from sight
When the Ringmaster’s daughter turns out her light
That’s when you know the Middletown Circus
Has gone to sleep for the night

A patron asks the one-armed dwarf
Hey man, don’t you ever feel degraded?
He says I get to travel the world and do as I please 
I feel like I’ve damn well made it
Nobody tells me how to dress, how to act, 
what to think or what to say
The patron scratched his chin 
and said, I never thought of it that way
With that the next contestant
Picks our man up by his collar
The dwarf gives a wry smile and says
Oh well, another day, another dollar
So the next time you presume, to assume
That you need to defend someone else
It might be a good idea to find out
If they really want or need your help
Then the one-armed dwarf is done for the day
And then he’ll be on his way
He’ll be the first to tell you that the Middletown Circus
Is the reason he’s still alive today

Oh, the bearded-lady
She is tied to the tightrope walker
They’ve been an item ever since
He rescued her from her ex-boyfriend stalker
Finding time alone together at the circus
Can prove to be some kind of a hassle
It’s well-known that they will slip away
To make love inside the haunted castle
When they walk together arm in arm in public
They are subject to the usual stares
The snickers and the unkind words
But it doesn’t matter, they just don’t care
And when they kiss underneath the stars
Their smiles camouflage all their scars
They know their friends at the Middletown Circus
Love them for exactly who they are

Cassandra the concession stand girl
She sells cotton candy for a dime
I bet you didn’t know that she
Is writing a novel in her spare time
Her mind is filled with thoughts and dreams
They take her to a million different places
She can be whatever she wants to be
She can wear a million different faces
When it’s time to go back to work
She works damn hard for her meager pay
But she is nobody’s fool and she is 
saving it all for a rainy day
And then one day just before dawn
Cassandra and her dreams will be gone 
She’ll walk away from the Middletown Circus
For she knows that the show must go on

The boy in the ticket booth
Stares at you with his steely blue eyes
He smiles politely but
You’re everything he has grown to despise
He’s a vagabond, you’re an automaton
He’s freer than you ever will be
If you don’t believe it just ask him
He’ll gladly tell you, don’t take it from me
His nickname is the gypsy
He travels from town to town
He came, he saw, he conquered
He never wants to hang around 
Although the four walls might constrain
His body, they can’t imprison his brain
When the tickets have all been sold
The gypsy will move on again

So why am I telling stories
About people, you will never ever meet?
Well the moral of the story is
Never stop fighting, never admit defeat
Love who you want to love and
Don’t give up on your dreams
Don’t judge a book by its cover ‘cause
Nothing is ever as it seems
The ones that linger quietly
Might one day emerge with a roar
Screaming until their throat is raw
You shall underestimate me no more
And when the caravan pulls away
From the local fairgrounds today
You’ll know the stars of the Middletown Circus
Have something worthwhile to say

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Photo by sergio souza from Pexels

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Scott Gardiner (Scotty Gee) has self-published two books of poetry and runs an Internet radio station called Scotty Gee Radio

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