{"id":52621,"date":"2011-07-22T11:52:13","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T15:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/52621\/poem-sideshow-star\/"},"modified":"2011-07-22T11:52:13","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T15:52:13","slug":"poem-sideshow-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/52621\/poem-sideshow-star\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Sideshow Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was created for the CPC Friday Fling poetry challenge<\/a>, where Michelle and I are looking for ballads about summer fairs and carnivals.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

My earliest memories of a summer fair was the \u201cJames E. Straits Shows\u201d summer carnival that for years came to the same field two miles down our road for a week. I never was good on the (for me literally nauseating) rides, and seldom had money for the games. But I remember being fascinated by the sideshow, where kids were not allowed. This is a fanciful tale mixing a real person and a real movie she made with an imaginary story line. <\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

\"Photobucket\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sideshow Star<\/p>\n

Have you heard the heartwarming tale
\nof the famous carnival barker
\nwho always drew huge crowds year after year
\nunder the name of Little Miss Marker?<\/p>\n

Her legend lives on from that day to this;
\ncurly blonde hair and eyes of blue.
\nOn the sideshow stage no one stood taller
\nthough she was only three foot two<\/p>\n

Little Miss Marker the carnival barker.
\nLighter or darker, no contrast was starker.<\/p>\n

In a voice big as all outdoors,
\nas each odd creature\u2019s poster she paraded by,
\nshe\u2019d point her baton like it was a rifle
\nwhile spouting the most outrageous lie.<\/p>\n

Three hundred pounds became a thousand.
\nA hidden girdle made Siamese twins.
\nWithout batting an eye, she would say
\n\u201cSwordfish Man\u201d had lungs, and fins.<\/p>\n

Little Miss Marker the carnival barker
\nLighter or darker, no contrast was starker.<\/p>\n

She was innocence personified,
\nor so the suckers thought each time,
\ntill she\u2019d shout the order: \u201cstep right up!
\nYou can see the whole show for one thin dime!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her own past was a mystery
\nThe story was she had been lost
\nas a marker in a poker game.
\nbetween her father and the carny boss.<\/p>\n

Little Miss Marker the carnival barker.
\nLighter or darker, no contrast was starker.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d won many friends with her winsome charms,
\nlike the bearded lady whom she trimmed
\nThe sword swallower and his apeman brother
\nsupported her when fortunes slimmed.<\/p>\n

She was reasonably happy until the day
\nher parents passed by the sideshow stage;
\nThey stole her back from the carny boss
\nLittle Miss Marker\u2019s life turned a new page.<\/p>\n

Little Miss Marker the carnival barker
\nLighter or darker, no contrast was starker.<\/p>\n

Copyright July 21st 2011 RGD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was created for the CPC Friday Fling poetry challenge, where Michelle and I are looking for ballads about summer fairs and carnivals.\u00a0 My earliest memories of a summer fair was the \u201cJames E. Straits Shows\u201d summer carnival that for years came to the same field two miles down our road for a week. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}