Almanac Poetry: Bread and Circuses
Bread and Circuses
Picture a feast
fit for a King
or, at least, the proletariat.
(Pies, sauce and beer will do.)
Imagine a gaggle of brass and a monkey
introducing a juggling clown,
a strongman bearing a giant rock,
a bearded lady,
trapeze artistes
lurexed to within an inch of their lives.
The feasters watch the spectacle,
eating, drinking with lunatic glee,
heading, inevitably,
to this poem’s title.
(Acknowledgements: poem first appeared in the New England Review, 2005; then in my first book-length poetry collection, Vigorous Vernacular, Picaro Press, 2008 – reprinted by Ginninderra Press, 2018.)
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Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
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