Also Mutants

Lateral Marionette

6-5-17

There's a past and a
future and a
man at the divide
silently longing to act on his own
intuition.
Free from a monologue
preachin' from inside
and a lifetime's cache
of strings attached;
long enough to see freedom
and loud enough to know
it can't be real.

If what you want won't stop you,
what you've done will.

With deadly fiber optic precision
another life's leash
lets up dangerously close
to countless possibilities
feigning every hope
and it gets him
         every
         single
         time.
As soon as the blue
starts to fade white
the strings jerk back
in time, seemingly,
nanoseconds apart...
reeling him loosely in.
He wants to come out
and play
but he's a puppet of his making;
the past, an incorrigible boss
and ruthless deal-cutter.
Control was signed over
long before he could
see intention for its worth;
before the glow could entice.
There is no show when
moving sideways.
Every wrong turn
gets him a little closer
to a sharper yank.

Close enough
is never close enough.

Best Long Poem, Free Verse