The puppet - Poem

You have strings all around you

Attached to your head, shoulders and mind

You’re on stage and everyone’s watching

Clapping when they’re supposed to

And you’re performing

Who’s the puppet master?

You’re the toddler

Who’s walking you home?

You know.

And everyone’s watching

Time to change scenery

You’re on a walk

With a branded collar

Who’s dragging you by the leash?

But you’re a female dog following its owner, wagging its tail meekly

Obedient - complacent

Not even barking

How boring

There’s a baby

You’re the dad

Who’s the trapper?

You know

You’re the sub

Who’s the dom?

No one’s switching, no way.

They’re the husband

You’re still playing wife

Don’t forget to clean up

You’re the prop

The makeup brush used to conceal someone else’s insecurities

You’re the actor

Who’s the director? Telling you how to say your lines.

We know, and everyone’s snickering

Everyone knows when someone’s being manipulated

As a puppet, you are prey

Your master hunted you down for months

And everybody could see it

It happened anyways

And even if you turn away

Your puppeteer pulls the strings tighter

You’re a puppet

An imitation of life

Your puppet master works hard day and night

And everyone’s watching

Smirking complimenting when it’s right

But everyone’s laughing

And I’m laughing the loudest

For the sad little puppet

But can a puppet cut its own strings?

Maybe.

The puppeteer's stage crumbles

The ugly beast of their insecurities destroying everything

in its path

Spewing like pus from an untreated wound.

But the puppet can be free with tendrils of strings

floating behind

The puppet can be someone

Maybe.

Explanation

The puppet tells a story that many people will relate to, it explores themes of manipulation, control, oppression and enslavement. In short, this poem could be aligned with phrases such as "You have that man on a leash", but it is deeper than that. I wanted to set the stage (literally) of someone performing and the performance being led by the puppeteer, but neither of these characters are free; they are bound to the audience's perceptions and their internal issues. Although it is only made more explicit in the last two stanzas, where it is revealed that the puppeteer is not in control. They are only in control when

A. The puppet obeys and plays along and performs.

B. The audience responds appropriately

The puppeteer falls apart when the performance starts to stray and go off beat, they pull tighter on the puppet's strings.

You’re the prop - The makeup brush used to conceal someone else’s insecurities

These lines tell the reader that the relationship between the two performers is self-serving; the puppeteer needs the puppet because, without the puppet, they are left alone with their insecurities and lack of direction.

The puppeteer uses the relationships as validation, pulling the strings = applying makeup. When the puppet leaves, I purposefully use the words "pus" and "ugly beast" to reflect how ugly and deeply seated someone's insecurities can go and how far they will go to revalidate themselves.

The metaphors could have gone on forever with this poem. I liked the motif of 'Everyone's laughing', it reinforces the theme of performing for an audience. Of course, some audience members applaud the puppet, but the wider audience can see behind the curtain, hence the reason their laughing. This is hinted at in the 9th stanza, the puppet and the puppeteer being paired together is not a destined fate, but something that was obvious to the others.

This poem takes on stereotypical gender roles but twists them depending on whether you view the puppet being a man and the puppeteer being a woman, generating a sense of emasculation and pity. Overall, this poem shows that manipulation isn't just assigned to one gender, but it simply comes down to someone's character.

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