inside the dunking cage

the needle nosed heckler

so engagingly solicits you

to try the guillotine on for size

meanwhile

the tepid wine

bubbles

up from

inside his empty head

as your poetry splashes unnoticed

against

the scabrous face of

the brutish clown

yawning derisively in the last row

of the empty,cheap seats

& you know then that you are truly back home