Sunday, May 23, 2010

Stilted Smile

The joyborn free giggles
Of those pig-tailed little girls,
Skips on heat that mingles
To rides humidity's threads.
A flipping coin to those adults,
The plodding resigned sods
Who waver between laughs
And tears.

House, park, carnival or life;
the background is an oblivious spectator
To sundry puppet shows of motley souls,
Celebrating humanity, that mimics convention.
Adrift , bereft of barbed anchors, I watch,
From the solitary island of mind.
My being stares out at the breakwaters,
Unsure of the sea-foam, it's salty sting.

I wish, I would that I had seven-foot legs.

From silence, dragged from the thought,
I hear click-clacking of wood on tile.
And through the pell-mell world world,
Wades a lone stilt-walker
Ploughing on with seven-foot legs,
Walking on a here that's somewhere else.
His blue coat-tails swish ducking heads,
Under red top hat, I wonder where his is.

Stilt-walker, on your wooden feet.
O' Stilt-walker, what do you see?

People ooh their dawning ahhs,
Laughing at the gangly figure
With the odd gait and toed knees.
They collect all their mewling herd
To clutch to cling to the ends,
While shutter-bugs flit and flame
Until the final frame is clicked.
Then without even passing thought
The moths fly, buzzing away,
To the nest shiny draw.

Stilt-walker, on your wooden feet,
Stilt-walker, with your painted face,
O' Stilt-walker, what crosses your mind?

The hesitant clouds are numbered,
Their choice is made for them
And they disperse before the onslaught
Of that resplendent Mr. Noon,
As his goring rays will the mulling crowd
To seek shelters of shade and fan.
I see him unthinkingly shrug
And shuffle to lean on kind wall,
He pulls himself to his throne
Slowly stretching his reaching shanks,
He pulls out a yard of black cloth
That wipes a sweat-logged face,
And undoes those cutting straps
That gaspingly free yearning feet,
And grimaces, straining to bend,
To wearily rub aching toes.
I see the flash of artifice
Turn into a silhouette,
Of a man.

Stilt-walker, on your wooden feet,
Stilt-walker, with your painted face,
Stilt-walker, wearing your stilted smile,
O' Stilt-walker, what do you feel?


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1 comment:

Daughter of the Night said...

Nice, very nice. The feeling of being apart from the crowd and yet, a part of it,comes through beautifully. Spectators on the shore of human experience? And I like the title too, it takes off any sting of condescension there might otherwise be. Lovely.

Watching as the world goes by. Makes me feel like I've stepped outside my body, and am watching myself and the rest of the world.

Good job. Glad you've got something constructive out of your funk. Much love and hugs.