Fixing the Past

[Delta40]

I endured the bus trip
and listened to the Jim Jones look alike.
He drove us all off the beaten track.
My home was in the distance
and my brother toe tapped my return.
I wasn't quite as far away as his past was.

A graduation ceremony for a boy who
failed to attend back in 1978.
A virulent man sinced expended his youth
through years of menial labour
till one day, his hope collapsed
and his knees shattered.

The Jim Jones look-alike peddled his christian
anti-nose picking for children products.
He said we need to hide this human condition.
I cried for my brother, laughed too.
Why was a pathetic middle aged man
sitting amongst children on a school stage?
I wanted to cry out Pedophile!

What a joke
A sick joke
but I laughed anyway.

Past the footlights, my brother stood on the gallows.
He drank the proffered plastic anti-spill cup
and a bib to soak up the kool aid.
Nobody wanted his hired silk regalia ruined.
Do you fully submit to righting this wrong?
I held my breath as another lifetime went by.
I do.
Folks, can we get photos of this?
the trapdoor opened and he dropped, triumphant.
I watched him dangle then moved forward.

[MorpheusSandman]

I've read this a few times and am still not sure what to make of it. The Jim Jones references seems to place the action in some kind of religious cult, but I'm not sure how the brother plays into it, or exactly what role the speaker is playing. But then it almost sounds like a wedding, or an indoctrination, or even a suicide itself? It's a bit hard to follow the action. I'm not sure if I like it or not at this point, but it's done a good job of confusing me. Maybe others can shed some light.

[Delta40]

It doesn't make alot of sense. I read some poems which hold no meaning whatsover for me and i ask myself, is it me? Am I failing to perceive the underlying message or is somebody just spilling their real time guts on a page for other people to sift through? Is this one of those poems?

sock puppet says: 'I don't get it. I want to, but I don't'

[IceM]

This makes more sense to me; the first stanza captures a moment, the second appears to be a reminiscence, the third being an experience with the man, the fourth a play on the pedophilia. I'm not sure what to make of the final stanza. I feel like I'm missing some philosophical musing by the man who lost much, but I just as easily could be over-interpreting something that gives an appearance of meaning by being cryptic.

Am I close? Or are you looking to see how your work is read, that being a viable option?

[Delta40]

I somehow transitioned from being on stage to standing at the gallows. Both have an audience

Sock puppet says: You should have guillotined him instead...