THE MARIONETTE LIFE CYCLE

Preface

In writing this cycle I tried to integrate my imaginings and a mix of some lessons I have learned in life. Choosing the title of the cycle itself as well as the title of the ten poems listed was by no means a small matter. The Marionette is a doll that is controlled by strings attached to it in several places. It hasn’t a mind of its own and is controlled by a puppet master termed the manipulator. Life has many strings in places that one can never imagine. Words that mean so little to you can mean quite a lot to others. Vice versa, words that mean a lot to you can mean so little to others. So, I tried to choose titles that could perfectly convey my meaning.

There are many things in life that should aid you but sometimes they are encumbrances instead. It is a situation that has plagued many all through their lives. I am also afflicted with this pandemic. I have this inability to say no to things. It’s quite fearful. I have had people give me things that they themselves were not using anymore. To my dismay, instead of politely refusing it, I accept it, as if controlled by a need to please them. This happens even with strangers. This is a just a small example. They are much mightier things at hand than being able to say no.

There is love and trust. I have seen many a situation that makes me champion a person to stand against injustice in a stance that I would not have taken had it been me. Justice is close to righteousness, so I try to encourage others to be stronger than

I can be. This cycle is my manner of bolstering myself, I am unsure if I succeeded though.

I have tried to make this cycle a poem that is a story but I am afraid I have failed miserably. The lines of poetry and story were blurry and my need for a good story stumped me many atimes. I am unsure if I have succeeded in following your instructions but hopefully poetry has evolved so much that my failings are hardly noticeable. I have also tried to mix it up a little bit by adding using different forms of poetry.

I had originally chosen different titles in the occupation of this cycle. The Taking was actually originally titled The Abduction. The Escape was originally titled The Prince, then The Rescue and The Naming was originally titled The Heart. I am interested in seeing where those lost titles lead but unfortunately not in this cycle. Perhaps I shall compose it and send it to you, maybe as an alternate ending.

The Birth is an ode from mother to daughter and from daughter to mother. I hope it expresses the love that a mother ought to have for her daughter and the trust that a daughter ought to have for her mother. For this marionette, as I shall henceforth refer to her, The Birth is a story of love between her and her mother and the future that her mother hopes for her. In writing this poem, I strived to show the pure and free love that I think a mother should have for her child. I hope I have presented that. Although, I am quite certain that a mother will be able to

state it better than I can. One of the challenges that writers have are finding inspirations to show a depth of emotion that one has never felt from a certain perspective before.

In writing The Taking, I tried to choose a title that suggested the stealing of something innocent. You can abduct anyone for a myriad of reasons but when you abduct someone who can fight for themselves, the innocent ambiguous way to denote that, seems to be to title it something innocuous. Something that isn’t really spelled out in the ensuing tale. It is written in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet.

The Puppet Master is written in the form of a Triolet. I am uncertain if I succeeded in matching the form but I certainly tried. The puppet master is an obvious choice as a title. There is a marionette that must be controlled, so therefore, there is a controller; a manipulator. It is a continuation of the tale. The marionette is going to see her manipulator for the first time. The marionette also confronts the loss of her mother once again.

The Circus introduces the life of the marionette as she’s been moving along. Here we see the weariness etched in her soul. The life she has had to live and the thing she had had to be. Here, the reader is introduced to other characters. The people who run the show. The show of life.

The doll that dances gaily (The Yoke) is a villanelle. The reader is personally introduced to the life that the marionette lives. The struggle is illustrated. It seems to me that she is

stretched in different directions, unable to move her way but certainly move a way. A way that she is trying to detach herself from. She is caught in an intricate dance of which no hope of ever freeing herself lies ahead. It is a sad story. She is trapped in a box that she can’t ever escape from.

The Marionette is one of my favorite poems in the cycle because I managed to escape from storyville yet still integrate it. Here, we see the marionette and the ties that actually bind her. She was an innocent with nowhere to go when the man who plays the string took her into his world. She obviously feels some gratitude for him but yet she wants to venture out into the world alone. She doesn’t want to be tied to anymore, but she feels this binding gratitude that for him. Yet, he treats her so awfully that she despairs yet she can’t leave. He only ties to him are the gratitude she has for him for taking her in after her mother’s mysterious death. How is she to deal with that? How can she away repay him enough that she doesn’t feel so tied to him. She is constantly reminded of his help when it was needed. I hope I also made clear he is the manipulator but he doesn’t even run the show, she does. The Red Queen. He is her servant as the marionette is his. Their strings are all pulled by her.

The Meeting is also one of my favorites of the cycle. It is the meeting of the marionette which her strength. He is of course clothed in the guise of a man-boy named charming. I loved writing it because I got to somewhat put the movie in my head on paper. The fonts I chose, I hope, also reflect the growth and

change in the marionette when she meets him. It is here that she gets a name; Avalyn. It means beautiful breathe of life. That’s what he gives to her, a spark that is undeniable. So undeniable that is caught on the radar by the machines that check to make sure the marionettes are all behaving themselves and not trudging out of line. It is so comical the way I see it in my head that I can only hope that is as evident in the poem itself. Here, she grows stronger and finally has her eyes open to the injustice around her. She realizes she is a slave to herself as well as the Red Queen and that she has not grown up the way her mother had intended.

The Plan was certainly harder to write than I could have imagined. What plan do I write of? What is the plan? Have I situated everything so that every detail of the plan is seen? On the other hand, it is a poem and so of course some abstraction must be kept. I had to finally settle on letting the reader know that there is indeed a plan in the works. What plan? I did not know until I wrote The Escape. In fact, as I had stated earlier, it was earlier titled The Rescue. I had originally wanted to tell a tale of how Charming came to her rescue but as I wrote on, I realized that she had to be stronger than he was because this was her fight, not wholly his. So I therefore named it The Escape.

As stated earlier, The Naming was also originally titled The Heart, but after I came to my epiphany, I changed my mind. The naming is supposed to be the culmination of the story. It is supposed to illustrate the freedom in names. Before Avalyn was

named by Charming, she was as nameless as the rest of them. Their designations were all numbers with no meaning except to mark them as non-human. When they are named, they gain the power to do as they wish and chart their own course. I chose all the names wisely and carefully and they all mean in the some form or the other, new life.

I hope that when you read this cycle, you can gain new meaning from them other than the ones intended or stated. It was very nice writing something like this, I certainly hope to try my hand at it again someday.

The Marionette Life Cycle1. The Birth2. The Taking3. The Puppet Master4. The Circus5. The Yoke (doll that dances Gaily)6. The Marionette7. The Meeting8. The Plan9. The Escape10. The Naming

1.The Birth (Ode)

Beautiful curls.Cherubic smiles.Melodic coos.Oh how I long to see you grow!Your eyelashes blink,Small hands and feet, same as mine,Dainty and pure,Your own strong grip, my beautiful babe.I love you so.

Blood of my blood Flesh of my fleshIn my loving arms you’ll stayMy beautiful babe.My heart is tied to yoursMy own loving soulI’ll never let you goIn death we’ll part and never before soPoppet, I endear you, grow.

In my arms you’re cradled,In my belly you were nurtured.

On my breast you suckled,On my heartstrings you tugged.My heart is filled with your soul,I want to hold on and never let you go,Alas only time will tell if a mother will swaddle you so.Out of love you came,Into the light you’ll go.

IIThe first words I ever spokeYou loved me near and dear to your heartMy trust for you, boundlessPlease don’t ever let me goUntethered and cordlessVulnerable in the cold of the windMy anchor and compass,Your truths, the paths I followLead me lest I get swallowed

If I have you nearCold hands will never dare near meYour warmth shall be my steadYour skirt shall be my solaceMy shield from the cold hands of life

“Mama, mama?”“brr, brr”“Are you there?”

2.The Taking (Petrarchan sonnet)

My heart bleeds for my heartThe darkness will come for herOf the hands that play the string, bewareHer shield will depart here this nightBeware of the poison arrows dartThe darkness has reached, its nighHe’ll come for you, so hideThe wind of life has gone too highThe heart is shrouded by dark intentTreachery’s afoot, so let the light take heedLet it not be drawn into the den of malcontentThe wind of life is gone for nowAdieu my dear, I’ll watch from afarYour skirt and shield are gone from you now.

3.The Puppet Master (Triolet)

“Don’t touch that! It just might kill you”My mother’s not here, do you know where she is?“Wear this, wear that. The show is about to debut.“Don’t touch that— it just might kill you!That’s pretty. What is the name of the show? “Do you see the manipulator? He pulls the strings”“Don’t touch that! It just might kill you”My mother’s not here! Do you know where she is?!

4.The Circus

The bright colors of the resplendent rounded tentRed, gold, yellow, shimmering purple all aroundThe excitement in the air,The air of despairDeath could come all too soon, AnytimeDangerous watersThe corruption of the innocentThe false laughter and money passing hands The Underbelly of the beast of white and redThe red queen, ruler of the wonderlandCavalier, her trusty servant, willing to do wicked’s dealingsThe Marionette hanging loosely by a threadThe light within darkness

The marionettes dancing gaily in the windSwinging by the noose on their neck“Daddy, daddy look! They are so pretty!”Prisoners of false beautyTrapped behind the looking glass

Tricked into servitudeUnwilling prisoners of their own truth.

5.The doll that dances gaily (The Yoke)(Villanelle)

The yoke is heavy around my svelte neckthe marionette said as her feet danced,beautiful pointy feet flailing erect

Arms swinging in involuntary caressthe marionette exclaimed her voice high,The yoke is heavy around my svelte neck!

The puppet master pulled and her head fell As it dropped down low she wailed a high note,beautiful pointy feet flailing erect

Abashed the doll hung her head in regretDarkness clouded her to mask the halo,The yoke is heavy around her svelte neck

The soiled doll lifted her head in regretSadness coiled deep within in deep despair,beautiful pointy feet flailing erectthe doll that danced gaily looked aheadshe thought to none, the dance will never endbeautiful pointy feet flailing erectThe yoke is heavy around her svelte neck.

6The Marionette

Gratitude...The ties that bindIts noose tight around your neck Thank You…such a simple wordIts hold tight like a vise Love you…the silence at the other endDrip…Drip… The drip…drip echoing sadnessI…I love you. Don’t you love me back?Child-like voices rearing their ugly headsDon’t you love me back? A cacophony of words reverberating“Now I’ve invested in you and you’re going to pay me back nicely, yes you are”“But…” Unheard and unacknowledged“Just do as I say!”Later…Now…NeverSlam! Railroaded! The train has been derailed“Passengers please make sure your cuffs don’t chafe too badly. Oh well” Cavalier Said.Silence. Alone. A willing victim of its own design

“If she doesn’t do as I say, off with her head!” the queen saidDance poppet, Dance! The puppeteer said.

7.The meeting

A lonely breeze

Years pass

The yoke still burdens the pretty marionette

A lonely heart

Shield and solace long gone

The darkness suffocates

The darkness chokes, a puffy cloud of endless despair. It just might win

The battle seems lost

A simple child’s dream

The corruption still incomplete – indistinct voices “…approaching destination”

1. Loneliness – check2. Despair – check3. Grief – check

4. Beloved – check — Wait! What?!

System malfunction! System malfunction! System malfunction!

“Testing, Testing”

1. Loneliness – check

Hello. Can you hear me? You’re beautiful. What’s your name?

2. Despair – check

Can you hear me? I’m charming. What’s your name?

3. Grief – check

I’m called number four4. Beloved – check — Akkkkkkkkkk-----k---

k---k--k--k—

There’s something wrong. My heart.

It hurts.

5. ---------------------------Flatline.----------------------------

Are you ok? Why are you called number four?

No, I feel something… It’s so strange

Let’s call you, Avalyn. Beautiful breathe of life.

8. The plan

Beautiful breathe of life

Your bright light shall be extinguished

If your luminosity must shine on,

Darkness must be eclipsed.

A contemplation is required, for

The shield and skirt have long been gone.

While the red queen sleeps at night,the charmed and light shall flee.

9.The Escape

So the dawn loomed…The charmed and luminous moved,While evil slept and night seemed doomedThey creped and crept and crepedAs the light moved evil remembered its purposeAs the darkness moved light remembered her purposeThe darkness must be extinguished sothe beautiful marionettes must no longer gracethe essence of wonderland’s myriad of escapes.

The light charged the darkness with the aid of the charmedThe red queen sent her trusty cavalier to smother the beautiful breathe of lifeThe charmed scorched the wretched servant all into smithereensIn the rage of battle, the red queen strode into the forayher robe of glistening velvet gleamed in the moonlightwith the swish and switch of her arms,the beautiful marionettes all charged forth“Run my pretties, run” the red queen bellowed with rageHer eyes shining with the light of unconcealed decay

The light vanquishes the darknessOne by one the weary marionettes charged

Where the light shone so the darkness was unveiledThe beautiful marionettes exclaimed with wonderThe red queen watched unseeingWith the decay festering her in eyesThe end was nigh as she knew itWhere the light shone so the darkness was unveilednearer and nearer as the light grewso the red queen reign to an end drewwith the approach of the breathe of lifeso the façade of the glistening lady cracked

10.The Naming

As the dawn retreated, so Avalyn sighed.So new life can hail from its ashes,The naming must first occur.The first marionette stood high from her perch on the floor“My name is Phoenix”So the second stood with her pronouncement,“I am Beatrice”With the second name came grace for the others“I am Teriah”“I am Lahela”“I am Saniya”RanaeGenesisEsperanzaTasyaDawnAmaranta“And I am Avalyn”So the beautiful graces parted ways On to the new world, its call they must obeySo the wonderland strayed into decayAs the beautiful new graces found their way.

THE END