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 cycleitself 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 frommother 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 firsttime. 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 storyvilleyet 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. BeforeAvalyn 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 Cycle
1. The Birth
2. The Taking
3. The Puppet Master
4. The Circus
5. The Yoke (doll that dances Gaily)
6. The Marionette
7. The Meeting
8. The Plan
9. The Escape
10.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 flesh
In my loving arms you’ll stay
My beautiful babe.
My heart is tied to yours
My own loving soul
I’ll never let you go
In death we’ll part and never before so

Poppet, I endear you, grow.
In my arms you’recradled,
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.
II
The first words I ever spoke
You loved me near and dear to your heart
My trust for you, boundless
Please don’t ever let me go
Untethered and cordless
Vulnerable in the cold of the wind
My anchor and compass,
Your truths, the paths I follow
Lead me lest I get swallowed

If I have you near
Cold hands will never dare near me
Your warmth shall be my stead
Your skirt shall be my solace
My shield from the cold hands of life
“Mama, mama?”
“brr, brr”
“Are you there?”

2.
The Taking (Petrarchan sonnet)
My heart bleeds for my heart
The darkness will come for her
Of the hands that play the string, beware
Her shield will depart here this night
Beware of the poison arrows dart
The darkness has reached, its nigh
He’ll come for you, so hide
The wind of life has gone too high
The heart is shrouded by dark intent
Treachery’s afoot, so let the light take heed

Let it not be drawn into the den of malcontent
The wind of life is gone for now
Adieu my dear, I’ll watch from afar
Your 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 tent
Red, gold, yellow, shimmering purple all around
The excitement in the air,
The air of despair
Death could come all too soon,

Anytime
Dangerous waters
The corruption of the innocent
The false laughter and money passing hands
The Underbelly of the beast of white and red
The red queen, ruler of the wonderland
Cavalier, her trusty servant, willing to do wicked’s dealings
The Marionette hanging loosely by a thread
The light within darkness
The marionettes dancing gaily in the wind
Swinging by the noose on their neck
“Daddy, daddy look! They are so pretty!”
Prisoners of false beauty
Trapped behind the looking glass
Tricked into servitude
Unwilling prisoners of their own truth.
5.
The doll that dances gaily (The Yoke)(Villanelle)
The yoke is heavy around my svelte neck
the marionette said as her feet danced,
beautiful pointy feet flailing erect

Arms swinging in involuntary caress
the 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,
Abashed the doll hung her head in regret
Darkness clouded her to mask the halo,
The yoke is heavy around her svelte neck
The soiled doll lifted her head in regret
Sadness coiled deep within in deep despair,
the doll that danced gaily looked ahead
she thought to none, the dance will never end
The yoke is heavy around her svelte neck.

6
The Marionette
Gratitude...The ties that bind

Its noose tight around your neck
Thank You…such a simple word
Its hold tight like a vise
Love you…the silence at the other end
Drip…Drip… The drip…drip echoing sadness
I…I love you. Don’t you love me back?
Child-like voices rearing their ugly heads
Don’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…Never
Slam! 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 said
Dance 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 – check
2. Despair – check
3. 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 four
4. 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 brightlightshall beextinguished
If your luminosity mustshineon,
Darkness mustbe eclipsed.
A contemplation is required, for
Theshield and skirthavelong 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 doomed
They creped and crept and creped
As the light moved evil remembered its purpose
As the darkness moved light remembered her purpose
The darkness must be extinguished so
the beautiful marionettes must no longer grace
the essence of wonderland’s myriad of escapes.
The light charged the darkness with the aid of the charmed
The red queen sent her trusty cavalier
to smother the beautiful breathe of life
The charmed scorchedthe wretched servant all into smithereens
In the rage of battle, the red queen strode into the foray
her robe of glistening velvet gleamed in the moonlight
with the swish and switch of her arms,
the beautiful marionettes all charged forth
“Run my pretties, run” the red queen bellowed with rage
Her eyes shining with the light of unconcealed decay

The light vanquishes the darkness
One by one the weary marionettes charged
Where the light shone so the darkness was unveiled
The beautiful marionettes exclaimed with wonder
The red queen watched unseeing
With the decay festering her in eyes
The end was nigh as she knew it
Where the light shone so the darkness was unveiled
nearer and nearer as the light grew
so the red queen reign to an end drew
with the approach of the breathe of life
so 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”
Ranae
Genesis
Esperanza
Tasya
Dawn

Amaranta
“And I am Avalyn”
So the beautiful graces parted ways
On to the new world, its call they must obey
So the wonderland strayed into decay
As the beautiful new graces found their way.

The Marionette Life Cycle

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