Consequent history, by C A Cafolini

[cafolini]

Anyone that ever wanted to fly
Had someone backstage warning about the perils of gravity.
Anyone that ever wanted to swim
Had someone backstage warning about the perils of currents.
Anyone that ever wanted to dance
Had someone backstage playing a funeral march.
Anyone that ever wanted to smile
Had someone backstage singing the wisdom of seriousness.
Every slave that ever wanted to be free
Had a master sleeping on mental laurels and incense.
Yet, the slave always learned by necessity,
To put the masters to sleep forever in a bed of laurels and incense.
The wings are loaded with masters
Walking around like ghosts
Screaming through the windows
The miserable wisdom returned to lullabye
Their sleep for evermore:
“Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green;
Father's a nobleman, mother's a queen;
And Betty's a lady, and wears a gold ring;
And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the king.”

[Jack of Hearts]

The second half of this poem is definitely the most interesting. The first part seems really redundant and somewhat unrelated at parts. Still pondering over the last lines, which seem to have something more than this reader first expected...







J

[Buh4Bee]

This is like trying to solve a mystery. What the hell does this mean? I didn't like the structure, but I think I see your point superficially. You play with history and the idea of social structure- master /slave. The slave can control the master if the slave can manipulate. Beyond this... it's a mystery.

I know that this is another as-is poem- a la carte.