Where The Circus Was
The place where the circus was is clearly visible
even to non-experts.
Here, the elephant rolled in the yellow grass.
Our local grass, wide-bladed, patchy,
became something different around this beast.
Here the monkey was tethered beneath a trailer,
look, the scuff marks, the marks from the heavy wheels,
and there, the ground that was beneath the big top
is flattened in a huge round shape
like those depressions farmers up north
sometimes find in their wheat fields;
the circus has left an impression.
Future archaeologists
could divide this space into squares,
make plans and diagrams, take photographs.
They could retrieve lost tent pegs,
strange seeds from strange hay,
how the grass grows stronger where the animals were,
how there are impressions left, trace the monkey's movements;
conclude; this is where the circus was.