My Marionette [Poem]

My Marionette - A Poem by Tom Shaw

That solemn, mighty dance
my marionette makes;
there’s no space for mistakes
nor something left to chance.
To please the spectators
there’s no tears ‘til later,
they're compelled to observe
her solemn, mighty dance.

That solemn, mighty dance
my marionette makes;
she pirouettes and takes
leaps away from a stance.
In reverence for the crowd,
she finds her body bowed.
The least that they deserve:
her solemn, mighty dance.

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Music - The United States Army Old Guard Fife And Drum Corps - Boismortiers Concerto for Five Flutes No. 4, Mvt. I. Adagio
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This poem stemmed from an exercise I devised as part of some soul and shadow work I am doing with an excellent mentor of mine, David Cordes. In one of the modules, I identified a number of personas that operated through me and gave them names, descriptions, and characterisations on how they behave both in “shadow” and in “light”. One of these marries to the “people pleaser” persona that I carry, named Helen, taking the form of a slender, expressionless marionette that dances endlessly. This combined with my reading of Metropolis, and an excellent line from the opening scene that described the stars as having a “solemn, mighty dance”, and I felt compelled to write a poem combining these two ideas.

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