Carsten René Nielsen:
Forty-one animals
(Prose poems, 2005)

Lion

At the circus we see an unusually skillful lion tamer. Classically dressed in striped strong-man tights, completely bald and with a handlebar moustache. He holds a watering can in his hand. Cautiously, oh so cautiously, he pours water in the ears of a lion. A deaf lion is quite harmless. With no danger he can call it names: »Kayak upholstery, rocking chair-ballast, potato testicle!« Most dangerous is if the lion has to sneeze. The trick is to pinch it by the nose until the water fills up its eyes.

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