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. Despite the buffeting of an occasionally painful waking world, the clown soars and tumbles in his dreams, though he is constantly brought back to earth. The book explores the nature of consciousness, education, work, play, dreams, humor, art, love, human relationships, and the nature of life on this blue-green planet.