Went to visit my new psychiatrist today for the first time. Good session, but I think he had more fun than I did, since hearing my story… locales, incidents, and stories of my mom’s family, all make for quite the first impression, clinically speaking! Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts over the past week. I am indeed well again! Amy
THE BIG TOP
Under the big top streaked with gray
They dance and perform; they’re at constant play
One is careening across center ring
in a clown car with spears – a most treacherous thing
The acrobats tumble across beds of nails
Trapeze artists regularly slip amid wails
There’s no net to catch them, so when they have fallen
for sweepers with hoses the master comes callin’
The freak show’s so real even grownups grow faint
There’s one star: it’s me, off my meds – fun, it ain’t
A banshee, a dervish, and funhouse in one
My bipolar circus has merely begun
© 2011 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
vivinfrance
I love your stoic way of poking fun at yourself. I’m glad you’re over the virus or whatever it was. You’re a star.
Sharp Little Pencil
Viv, you make me smile. I believe in self-deprecating humor… keeps the ego in check. Thanks – you’re a COMET!
Debbie
Amy . . . such a great poem. You can connect us with what is going on in a way few can. Praying this guy is a good one . . .being a little protective here. ha! Thank you!
Sharp Little Pencil
I get what you mean, Debbie, and thanks so much. Amy
Tilly Bud
I do like this one! A great metaphor.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Linda, especially for the “metaphor” comment! A
Roger Green
Been a long time since I’ve seen a shrink – maybe I ought to go back! – but I always HATED the early sessions. “So why are you here?” It’s so boring to ME.
Sharp Little Pencil
And it’s ALL about YOU, Roger, right? LOL. God, you really do need help!!!!!
Seriously, the early sessions are painful and clinical, but if you just say, ‘I need you to manage my medications,’ that goes a long way. Also, I never, EVER do psychiatry without counseling first. Some things can be talked out better than medication… Thanks, Roger. Amy
Judy Roney
So honest and brave of you to share. This circus began with a smile on my face and then as I read there was a bit of a sinister tone. I’m glad you wrote this for a bit of illumination into a life of bi polar. Hugs to you.
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Judy. I’m dedicated, through poetry and activism, to sharing my experiences with manic depression, PTSD, and other experiences to help erase the stigma that surrounds mental disorders. And about the order of the poem – yes, that bit of the sinister does creep in. It dawns on the reader. Thanks again! Amy
Mary
Amy, that is quite a poem. As the poem began, you had me reflecting on my own very recent Shrine Circus visit. I never guessed where you were heading with it. I loved the twist. An honest poem.
Sharp Little Pencil
It’s gratifying to know I can still surprise a discerning reader like you, Mary. Thanks very much! Amy
Carl
Whoa! Serious punch to this one. Great musicality and forward movement. Great connection between the images and the final confession.
‘fun, it ain’t’ reads a little stiffly in comparison to the rest, but on the whole this one really works.
Sharp Little Pencil
Carl, thanks for the comment, especially the note regarding the actual readability. I’ll take another look. Appreciate SO MUCH your constructive criticism, and usually use your comments, so consider yourself respected, indeed. Amy
Kim Nelson
I’ve seen a circus show of the very same ilk. It can be exhilarating, frightening, overwhelming… so many ‘ings…
Sharp Little Pencil
Seeing it, living it… the hard part is loving it, but I do!
Sherry Blue Sky
I can well imagine your psychiatrist would be highly entertained. I know I am, by your writing and your effervescence! I recall reading some of my family stories at a writers’ group, and they, who had had “normal” lives, would fall totally silent in stunned disbelief. Yet when they read about their “normal” lives, I was the one who was fascinated. Hee hee.
Sharp Little Pencil
Totally on board with you. Ordinary life holds little charm for me, but it means a lot to those who live it, right? 😉 Amy
Berowne
I thought you might be interested in the scientifically arrived-at percentage figures having to do with your poetry.
Percentage of the population able to rhyme acceptably well — 14%.
Percentage of the population able to rhyme well and with a keen understanding of the importance and aesthetic value of meter — 9%.
That puts you up in the top ten, Amy. Congratulations. 🙂
Sharp Little Pencil
Wow, I don’t know what to say. I rarely write to form or with rhyme, so I guess when I do it, it’s cool! Helps, too, that I am a songwriter; when I choose to employ traditional form, it has to “play back” well in my mind. Thanks, Berowne! Amy
woih
ha! This sounds like my family holidays. Pretty much character for character.
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, aren’t holidays the WORST in dysfunctional families? I feel for you. Except these are all ME! MOO-HA-HAAAAAAAA! Amy
Buddah Moskowitz
Than God you can see it coming and get your writing tools together until you get your meds! I think writing is an excellent therapy, it’s the only thing that ever really helped me.
Great fun (!) poem, love Buddah M
Sharp Little Pencil
Brudda o’ mine, yes, it’s true, I can see it coming. The hard part is pulling out of the depression, but even then, chair-prisoner can always pull out a pen! Thanks, A