Geek Head Pie
John Jessup Kennan 1953 (Pomona)
This freakin job pays peanuts
I gotta wear this goofy hat
Collecting coins in this tin cup
For epileptic acrobats
The boss just grinds her organ
Keeps me on a leash
And locks me in my cage at night
Away from all the other beasts
I can hear her in her room at night
Getting her organ tuned
How am I supposed to sleep
With that racket coming from her room?
So I wear a pair of noise filters
And watch another show
Eat peanuts till I fall asleep
She wakes me when it's time to go
Five for a ten, two for a fin
Come and try your luck
Throwing ping pong balls in vases
Shooting air rifles at ducks
The Ringmaster has overdosed
On estrogen and cigarettes
The clowns have all walked out on strike
The elephants are at the vet
We're running low on ketamine
To keep the lion tame enough
The lady with the mustache quit
She's stripping at the local club
What's a poor monkey to do?
The passersby just pass on by
Pennies from a blind man's hat
Afford me a Geek Head Pie
Boss says there's no work today
Looks like it's gonna rain
I'm just an organ grinder's monkey
Picking pockets on the train
Five for a ten, two for a fin
Come on and try your luck
Throwing ping pong balls in vases
Shooting air rifles at ducks
The carney barker swallowed swords
Went mute for increased pay
Eats VapoRub and coughs a lot
There's nothing left to say
Blue is the color of his star
Red the color of his spangles
White the color of his little lie
Crimson colors all his angles
He wants to sub us out to work
An alligator farm
He says the bus is waiting
And points with his one arm
The carney tweekers all are skilled
At finding perfect hideaways
I say we burn the Big Tent down
And make our getaway
Five for a ten, two for a fin
Come on and try your luck
Throwing ping pong balls in vases
Shooting air rifles at ducks
© John Kennan 12-26-20
Font size:
Submitted by rankstranger7 on May 24, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:50 min read
- 4 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abxxcxdx dxexxfef GhIJ xxxxcxxx xkbklmxm GHIJ xlxlxakx xnxnxaxl GHIJ c |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,752 |
Words | 357 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 4, 1 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Geek Head Pie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/100877/geek-head-pie>.
Discuss the poem Geek Head Pie with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In