The Clown

Performance filmed at the June 2023 Artists for Impact Fundraiser
at Coastal Creative in St.Pete, FL

The Clown

I am a clown
I paint my face real big
I wear my heart on my sleeve
Literally
And when I squeeze It, it shoots water
and it's like when you start crying in front of someone
and they don't know what to do

I walk around with big shoes
Making big steps
It's hard to miss me
Yet, no one looks me in the eye

I can't help but be loud
And gaudy
And honk when I sneeze
I try my hardest to muffle it
After all, that's why I carry so many handkerchiefs
One in every color, just in case
I try to quickly pull them out of my sleeve
Yanking on their perfect rainbow train
As to bury my face in them
But I'm always a little too slow
And then I trip on them too
And fall with a loud honking splat to the ground
Sneezing
as my shoes go _up up ^{u p}

I lie there for a moment

Below me there is a puddle of tears forming
From where the water reservoir on my sleeve burst on impact
And there's a rainbow oil slick of handkerchiefs coiling all serpentine around my prone body
And there's a perfect imprint of my agony on the asphalt from where my face paint kissed the ground
And I realize,

I should have just sneezed

There was no point in trying to hide in the first place

Who am I fooling?
I am a clown am I not?
Do clowns not honk when they sneeze?
Are my shoes not loud on purpose?

I might as well own it

- by Jeb Katsiopis 2023

Mixed media
text typed on paper with a typewriter and collaged onto a watercolor painting of rainbow hankerchiefs weaving in and out of the text