Protection
by Ken Poyner
We worry that our children, out doodling the void-filling chapters of their lives, might by accident - or worse, by design – stumble upon a cache of abandoned clownware. A carelessly forgotten, or strategically placed, set of size twenty-five shoes, a harvest of water emitting daisies, ten fingers’ worth of exploding cigars. The children would be too curious to avoid the artifacts, immediately populate them with imaginings grown from idle clown contacts, the pancake make-up smeared on fathers weaving home from drunken adventures, rumors fed them by older sisters, and perhaps a clandestinely viewed performance. Would they experiment? Would they be turned? Would they smuggle pieces of clownware home to dawdle with under their sheets in bed at night? We raise our children to be clown-aware, to draw a strict, if arbitrary, line. But children always want to be what they are not. Props and paraphernalia can tempt the unchallenged, tip the loosely decided. Some clowns were once townsfolk who lost their way. Not my child. Tell me how to detect exploding cigar ash.
Ken Poyner
Ken Poyner’s eleventh book, Winter’s Last Apple, is just out. Eight of his previous ten books are still in print. He lives in Virginia with his wife of 45+ years, assorted rescue cats and various betta fish. Café Irreal, Analog, Grey Sparrow, Mad Swirl, elsewhere.
All of Ken's books may be found at Barking Moose Press.
Books
- Avenging Cartography
- Constant Animals
- Engaging Cattle
- The Revenge of the House Hurlers
- Winter’s Last Apple
More: https://kpoyner.com
Comments
Yes, that's the way to do it! Thanks Ken.