Control Freak

[ampoule]

Control Freak

Standing in the center ring, snapping his whip of protest,
he grins at her giving-in,
Mesmerized as she gallops round and round
Doing just as he says.
In comfort now he sleeps,
She is finally broken, finally tamed.

Then dreaming, he wonders at the song, where it has gone,
Her calliope slowly rusting,
Out of tune, a key missing here and there.
He awakes, sweating, running to her pen,
She is there, resting; relieved he walks away,
Once again she stares into sunlight, the tent's open flap.

ampoule, November TwentySeventh, TwoThousandTen

[PrinceMyshkin]

Marvelous enigma, if I understand this correctly, that she - a figure in one of those carousels - should be so much more 'at peace' than he who has given his all to 'tame' her. The enigma, if I have it right, is compressed, reiterated in that great last line where what appears to be (and is) the sunlight is no more than what can enter via a flap in the tent.

[ampoule]

Exactly!!!....about the sunlight streaming through the tent flap.

[AuntShecky]

This one keeps us guessing -- Is this a live filly described as part of a mechanical merry-go-round or the opposite? In a way, the "he" could be a repairman rather than a life horse trainer attempting to "break" (i.e. tame) a live equine.

A childlike innocence perches behind the theme, for every little kid who rides on a carousel imagines that "his" particular horse is real.

[firefangled]

Very imaginative and deliciously ambiguous throughout. The mysteries you create are always tantalizing.

[qimissung]

Yes, it appears understandable, but you can almost walk around it, looking at it from every sid and seeing other things...for instance what if, in reality, the little filly was free to go?

[ampoule]

Yes, it appears understandable, but you can almost walk around it, looking at it from every side and seeing other things...for instance what if, in reality, the little filly was free to go?

You've got the gist!!


And thanks very much to those who have commented.