The Joker Card

(Zanni character of Commedia dell’arte)

I. Epic Journey
Zany, digger of potato, exiled:
Travels to haunt the penny field.

(Harlequin character of Harlequinade)

II. Affair
Lust-lock-lost in lady Columbine
Trickily stupid lad Harlequin.
Actin’ cool, himself fools
Dances day-dreams and drools
Lust-lock-lost in lady Columbine.

(Pierrot/Clown Blanc)

III. Lament
For long have i now gazed your face
With looks of beggar child in helpless plea
With dying embers of my hope; your Grace
Return to me and let my soul thus be.

And long helpless chukar waits in despair
Requital of his un-flickering love
For virgin moon divine at whom he stares
But nay in end she showers it on dove

Now write recite and let’s begin this battle heart
Let Lament long suppressed now raise his head
Eternalize this war thus meld in art
Let hence the white of moon be tainted red

Decisive war must come in full blood now
And tyrant love or starving heart must bow.

(Hobo/Tramp Clown)

IV. Sing-Song
In heart a king, by blood a clown.
Dare to wear the foolish clown face
Lest weight of world would bring you down

See me, tramp i freely this town
And leaving neither trail nor trace.
In heart a king, by blood a clown.

Is it your face? This stupid gown?!
Remove this frown that hangs your face
Lest weight of world would bring you down.

This sadness is a joy godown,
My crying face is smiling face.
In heart a king, by blood a clown

Is life a circus, up n down?!
So why just ask for joy n ease…
Lest weight of world would bring you down

Half-baked in pot till golden brown,
Why be a king without the grace
In heart a king by blood a clown,
Lest weight of world would bring you down?

(‘The Joker’: an “evil-clown” depiction of pop culture. From “The Man who Laughs”)

V. Stranger

What ever doesn’t
kill you
simply makes you
STRANGER!
and pretense of being a stranger,
might kill as well

So in this game of chances, come
let’s introduce some anarchy!
With a plastic smiley scar
we’ll all smile
to the face of death.

An agent of the death,
the true teller,
brings out our ugly self
which veiled we keep
in deep
facades.

and, Why So Serious?!

When difference between
the facade and self dis
-appears,
then one may as well believe that “what
-ever doesn’t kill you
simply makes you stranger”

But facade within facade
within facade
that nine deaths and
nine lives of hyena howls
cannot tell a facade
from facade.

Each facade demands sordid stories
to make the boundaries
blur and bring
CHAOS
to the ugly system
of facades.

but, Why So Serious?!

Madness
is like gravity!
And sometimes all it takes
is just
a little
PUSH!
A splash of purple-blue
within the black and white.

Ladies and gentlemen
WE are tonight’s ENTERTAINMENT
so, Why So Serious?!
Let’s put a SMILE on that face… 🙂
game?

(P.s. This set of poems tries to depict among other things the journey of clown character through ages and cultures. It is like the Joker of playing cards assuming any role that is required.)