Dante Micheaux
from Circus
i. Center Ring
All months are cruel, ladies and gentlemen.
The lilacs that last in the dooryard bloomed are dead,
so come you here for pleasure and we shall entertain.
See us Negroes dance and sing, dance and sing
for you, dear audience, we will do most anything. 5
Our jungle bunnies dance the cooch
for nickel, dime, anytime.
Big George can lift a heifer on his shoulder,
sip a brew and shine your shoe, but barely breaks a sweat.
Oh, and Trickster, in the stands 10
will borrow money, steal your wallets
and pay you back in advance.
Dangling Daniel hangs from a noose,
bug-eyed but do not fear.
For just one more dollar you can make him holler 15
with the crack of a whip in your hand.
Step right up! Encourage the kids.
Out back, there’s a ninny parade.
Come one, come all; tell your friends!
This is the show that never ends… 20
Let’s take a minute to thank all those
that brought and keep us here.
Up in the box is Mr. Washington Adams Jefferson,
decorated general, statesman and agrarian.
Spotlight please! 25
And to his left, Abimbola, the great tracker,
tamer of African wilds.
To his right is Mr. Nagrom, financier extraordinaire.
An appreciative round of applause for him!
Now if everyone would rise to their feet 30
to thank the one, without whom
none of this would be possible:
Miss Lily White, in whose honor we perform.
Who talk like me? Who dye elect despise?
Who patois, out day home, invite guffaw 35
and swallow rage? Mask, except foe day eyes,
who talk like me? Who dye elect despise?
Just call me Tom, the tallyman.
I keeps de Negroes in check;
they won’t get far from me. 40
Enough of all this pomp; the circumstance is this:
with great big smiles and that old nigger shimmy,
we will give you laughs a-plenty.
But to begin this revelry,
we’ll try a little mystery: 45
Aunt Cahrie, decrepit sage of the veil
will take her place and fix herself to see
the future, mister and mistress.
Not for me, but you and he—she
needs no sinister deck to be 50
the oracle of the street made black.
Here comes your fortune in a whisper:
“I see a great metropolis, yet hell is underneath;
because its populace has sinned,
the black rat is bequeathed. 55
They tunnel through the underworld
and nest inside the walls,
they nibble on the limbs of babes,
heed not the piper’s call.
This plague, this pestilence you have? 60
You brought upon yourselves.
The lust it takes to own the world
is rooted deep and delves into abyss of hate—
that place you call your soul.
Your god is terribly displeased. 65
To expiate, and spare the rod,
live in the place where the black rat trod.
Become the rat itself.”
I’m afraid the old auntie’s tired now.
Fear the real city of the of the hag’s vision 70
some other time. You’re here to ease your guilt.
Neither bloody water, frogs, gnats, flies, diseased cattle,
boils, thunder and hail, locusts, darkness nor
the ghosts of dead sons will find you here.
Stay a while. 75
Gracious masters, you were not meant to fret.
There’re those of us, as you know, more adept
at bearing burdens not our own.
So let us dance and sing for you.
As long as we dance and sing 80
there is nothing to forgive.
Whenever past atrocities begin to furrow your brow,
say this mantra: mine is the peace of the world,
the salvation of all within. I am the soil and the sky,
the beasts and superior kin. This is day that I have made; 85
this is the path that I have laid; I am the hope of the world.
Forgive this rape, la sottise, l’erreur, le péché, la lésine.
The excerpt above is from Circus (Indolent Books, 2018), winner of the Four Quartets Prize from the Poetry Society of America and the T.S. Eliot Foundation in London. It appeared in What Rough Beast on November 25, 2107, prior to the publication of the award-winning chapbook. You can order your copy here.
Dante Micheaux is the author of Amorous Shepherd (Sheep Meadow Press, 2010). His poems and translations have appeared in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Callaloo, PN Review, The African American Review, and Tongue, among other journals and anthologies. He has been shortlisted for the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize. Micheaux’s honors include a prize in poetry from the Vera List Center for Art & Politics, the Oscar Wilde Award, and fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation and The New York Times Foundation.
SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.
If you want to support the mission and work of Indolent Books, consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Indolent Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity.
Join our mailing list to receive news, updates, and special offers from Indolent Books.