hide your peanuts

the elephants
at the senior home for former
circus
animals
were sitting around the pool,
smoking cigars,
eating peanuts
and talking about the old
days.
remember the time
I stepped on that clown?
the one with the red
nose and floppy yellow
shoes?
together they all laughed
and threw
their trunks into the air.
I couldn't stand that clown,
one said, blowing
smoke rings out of his
long grey trunk,
he wasn't funny at all,
and believe me I know funny.
I think there's a part of him
still stuck
to the bottom of my hoof.
I used to leave him a little
extra when
he swept up behind us.
hey look, here comes jimmy,
that crazy monkey
who used to play with
the organ grinder.
geez he's still wearing that silly
hat. newsflash jimmy.
the party's over.
he thinks he's a know it all
with that almost human DNA,
he never stops chattering.
quick, look the other way.
too late, he see us.
hide your peanuts.