Tatters

Freckles fall from Tatters downtrodden countenance. They fell like snow onto his chest below. Only one landed on his nose, Rudolph-proud. He shared Bozo’s hair - orange and red - a frenetic flair. Face is narrow, pale - with blue eyes - used to be pie in the sky blueberry…now Tatters is just blue. Lips, thin and pink; eyebrows like charcoal crows. Tatters donned his clown suit when he was twenty-one, after he downed his first whiskey at the circus. A drunken clown - is there any other - aren’t they funnier? Audience applauds when he attempts a unicycle and when he rides pink elephants. Now twenty-five he longs to shed his jaundice billow of ruffles chained about his neck. He will! He did! But alas it is too late. He’s not nearly as funny…his elephant’s gray, but… he still falls off his seat - the crowd applauds at his insane antics when he tumbles from the unicycle. Only the redhead teen, with freckles, sees a tattered-tear splashdown in the big tent. Her sensitive hands will speak as she depicts his suffering in indelible ink. The clown gains serious applause - after all his life’s framed in the teen’s blueberry eyes. 1/5/2023