brown paper bags

brown paper bags
are perfect for lunch
or for face;

cover for deep disgrace
or shroud for a myriad hang-ups
one might have had.

once a favored prop
of comedians who remained nameless.
unknown to audiences they slayed;
laughed themselves into stitches--

blue skinned and breathless;
ache in their sides; almost dead--
stayed faceless and splayed.