What do you think of when you hear the word clown? In a 2022 Los Angeles Times article by Jake Kroeger about the contemporary state of clowning in the arts and its growing popularity, clown teacher and performer Jet Eveleth defines the word as “a celebration of the physical and vulnerable side of the human experience.” Eveleth points out how the actions of a clown, whether it be falling down or falling in love, are “poking fun at the human condition.” This week write a “clown” poem, allowing yourself to explore whatever the word brings up for you. Perhaps it is children’s birthday parties, horror movie villains, campy decor, circus hijinks, or something that lives in the contradiction of simultaneous joy and sorrow. How do the paradoxes of a clown—both happy and sad, silly and sinister—reveal truths about the human condition?
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