a three-ring circus on caffeine;
incredibly entertaining as long as
you can keep the wild tigers in their cage.
In the first ring, imagination’s clowns
and their colorfully-costumed dogs
perform fantastically frisky tricks.
Random elephant thoughts
plod tails-in-trunks in the center ring;
going round and round under hot spotlights.
In the last ring, fast ideas on noisy
motorcycles race recklessly within the
locked, metal-meshed sphere of the mind.
Rising upward, visions of long-legged,
feathered women twirl dizzily from tethers
until the human cannonball is shot high into the air.
Unexpectedly, the glaring mania of lights
dim to reveal the surreal threats of a
thousand glowing souvenir light sabers.
The mood suddenly trips over an
empty cotton candy cone and tumbles
head-over-high-heels down the steep steps;
Rolling from the upper nose-bleed section,
plunging past shocked spectators to crash
into depression on saw-dusted floor of arena.
Ladeez and genteel-men, may I have your
attention pleez: be sure to take your medications
or risk falling from the sky with no safety net below.
a poem in my pocket 
Sep 21, 2018 @ 13:10:04
We do need a safety net for those highs and lows which you so vividly describe. (K)
Sep 21, 2018 @ 21:15:19
Yes! It helps to have a support team.
Sep 19, 2018 @ 11:25:45
Well described. This line accentuates the height: “until the human cannonball is shot high into the air”
Sep 19, 2018 @ 14:22:51
Yes…an unnatural high.
Sep 19, 2018 @ 07:06:43
being on some medications and then spiraling when off can seem like a circus going on in the brain, so well written that drove home the intricacies of the mind.
Sep 19, 2018 @ 10:18:00
Thanks for reading!
Sep 19, 2018 @ 03:44:34
The circus metaphor for a bipolar brain makes the struggle very clear for me… maybe the medications and other tools are like the ring-master keeping it all under control…
Sep 19, 2018 @ 10:17:34
Yes, I think recovery is in learning to use the tools.
Sep 19, 2018 @ 01:41:36
As someone whose brain has a ind of its own and wakes me up at night with an internal conversation, your ‘three-ring circus on caffeine’ is completely familiar. I love the contrast in the phrases ‘fantastically frisky tricks’ and ‘Random elephant thoughts’!
Sep 19, 2018 @ 10:16:06
Thanks, Kim…you “get it”!
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:00:04
Nice Lynn… Good advice for all. You have described the condition so well.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:08:10
Circus or roller coaster…choose your metaphor!
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:11:56
I have used them both!! (and lived them both!!)
Sep 19, 2018 @ 10:15:26
A survivor! 😀
Sep 19, 2018 @ 13:28:24
Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Sep 18, 2018 @ 17:46:12
Oh, this is powerful in its portrayal of a bipolar shift — the many kaleidoscopic images in their brightness create an evocative experience of being on the high with the fall awaited without a safety net. This heck of a ride is wonderfully worded.
-HA
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:06:26
The high cannot be maintained but hopefully the crash can be softened.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 17:25:50
An intuitive poem aptly describing the highs and lows of the bipolar brain. Well done.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:02:55
Thanks,Bev, I appreciate your comments!
Sep 18, 2018 @ 16:30:04
Wow – each description speaks volumes about the ‘ride’. I have seen this spin with loved us living with bi-polar disorder.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 22:01:54
My dad lives with bipolar…symptoms and diagnosis occurring late in life.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 16:28:18
Wow! Well done!
Sep 19, 2018 @ 10:18:51
Thank you, Susan 🙂
Sep 18, 2018 @ 15:46:02
Thanks for sharing this tonight. What a great extended metaphor. I particularly like the mood tripping and falling – mood swings personified.
Sep 18, 2018 @ 21:59:37
Thanks for the circus prompt! I’d written this earlier and seemed like a good time to share it.
Sep 19, 2018 @ 04:13:28
perfect
Apr 21, 2013 @ 22:22:52
Good connection. Like the poem…I can hear the “Ladeeez and gentler-men”. =)
Apr 22, 2013 @ 16:01:15
Thanks, Carol…I woke up during the night (guess my brain was over-stimulated?) and scribbled a draft. Sometimes it’s surprising where poems take you 🙂 Enjoyed being with you and Lincoln to experience his first circus!