Clownery: In lieu of a life spent in harness is the autobiography of an artist and teacher resembling the author, in prose poetry, with some fictional and hypothetical pieces set off in italics. The clown grows and matures despite the buffeting of an often painful waking world, though he tumbles and soars in his dreams. The book follows his education, consciousness, work, play, dreams, humor, art, love, relationships, and the mysterious nature of a full life on this fragile planet.