Student Publishing Program ::

Perry Zang

Son of a Clown

Afternoon shadows fall across my bedroom wall,
My father-he is rarely ever home.
When he is, he laughs like a circus clown
And drowns out every other sound.
My swimming life, he complains,
And reminds me of its insignificance again and again.

There are days when I want to start my life over again.
I try to knock down the wall
But the cracks are sealed by his complaints.
When things are nice and calm, our home
Is shaken by his sound,
The sound of an angry clown.

Sometimes I act like the clown,
Promising myself not to be like him again,
The way he acts,thinks, and sounds,
Temporarily sealed away from him by the wall,
Home does not feel like home
Especially when he complains.

Non-stop complaining-
In my eyes he will forever and always be a clown.
Early in the morning he leaves home.
Peace and life come back again,
Forgetting all about the wall.
By nightfall we hear sounds.

Steadily, the sounds
Of stress, frustration, and complaints.
Chip away at the fragile wall,
Here comes the frowning clown,
The strangling presence is back again.
The place I call home

Has become someone else's home,
When I have my sounds,
They're gunned down again and again
By his omnipotent complaints
Who knew that this clown
Could build such a hateful wall?

Then again, I better stop complaining
Before my own family and home become the sound
Of the clown, separating family from love with a wall.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2011 EDITION]