Puppet X,6 Poem by Jerry Ratch

Welcome to the
pain and amusement park

The lowered hurdles,
the galleries of sleep

I know it hurts you all
to see me here

Believe me, it hurts me too

You didn't exactly expect bullets,
did you?

We aren't all human
Ask about

- Dogs talking of stupidity
- Geese honking before time

- Cows

Cows don't know a Sunday from
a Monday, what do cows know?

* *

Clearly these are not human

Take the one in front of you
He wants to bleed
without getting himself wet

Ah! Absurdity and religion
That's what you get

- An order to laugh

“Don’t be upset
Don’t be upset”

I'm going out and
walk around till I get beat up,
the next dog who
mentions buttons

The universe is wet

Cornfields, wheat fields,
fire and brick

(and a no. of other things
which I am too young
to relate)

“Now I lay thee
down to sleep”

Does this seem
strange and familiar
somehow?

Looking into all the possible
night windows

You think they are alive
and you try getting them
to speak

But you see it's no use

– Emotionally asleep...

* *

Sons of the sleepless
Postured gentlemen (gentle swans)
Daughters of the dead
How we dream!
We do

* *

You bow and come before
the farmer or the judge
and repeat what
was expected of you
Rule, reason, prayer

'I might have made it
through the day, if
she hadn't let down
her hair

It would've been all right
I know it...'

Your reasons

You keep boiling them down
Boiling them down
Boiling them down

Till the vat goes
poof

Or you work for the publishers
until your brain becomes
a lima bean

And then you smoke your pipe
and think about
that…

A planet of contemplators…

I'm afraid your brain is gone, my dears

Now here come
the cartoons

* *

Have you ever had the true
laughter
driven out of
your body?

Have you ever seen
a small white cloud form
within easy reach?

(Have you ever seen the dwarfs
perform?)

Have you?

– Bugs with their
puny faces

– Giant butterflies trying to sleep
on a train

– Clown birth?

It used to be a laugh
Now it's a signal

The specimens are speaking,
ladies and gentlemen

We all have party hats on…

Let us reach
underground and
remember

– The lick that
starts the ice

– The wax that will

The hands that
put us through our motions…

Then we'll sit down
in old chairs

You could show me passports

I could show you
the broken flesh of dreams

* *

I want you to
face the toys
Ladies and gentlemen

Before someone
has killed someone real

I want you to look close…

See the scars?
The burns?
The terror?