Group Portrait with Backdrop 1999

 

 

 A quick glimpse reveals an odd grouping

assembled for a picture by a shallow,

outdoor wading pool on desert's edge,

somewhere in the rugged Southwest

among flowering cactus, rough stones

with artificial waterfalls, a set background

for performers holding a multitude of

ventriloquist dummies, some held in hand

or on laps, others propped up to simulate

standing, many realistic with human clothing,

straw boaters,  string neckties, others creatures

of the imagination: Sesame Street characters,

hobgoblins and ghosts, circus sideshow clowns

and spirit creatures, some smiling, others not;

their collective voices not quite laughter,

not quite a scream, all of them asking the same

question, ”Why are we here? “ 

 

 

 

 

 Alan Catlin has been publishing since the seventies; from the mimeos to the Internet. His latest full length book of poems is “Alien Nation.”  He is currently working on a sequel to that book under the working title of, “Beautiful Mutants.”