Sunday, December 28, 2014

From the Vaults: Puppet Minds


By Alexandra Seidel

The master puppeteer
who makes the clockworks of his puppets’ minds
toggles gently just
that cogwheel filigree
as it clinks and cracks
with puppet thought

he’s used to that and also
to the tremble movements
of their wooden limbs
the spinning of their eyes of glass

the puppets’ clockwork minds
shift on their own once they’ve been wound
and the master puppeteer

ties long strings to their little
puppet bodies
strings that are soft
as whispers in your ears

the master puppeteer keeps the key
that clockwork winds the puppets’ minds
and only he knows how to untie his knots

and key and knot are surely his
until the cogwheels
set themselves to
making scissors
for their strings
and lock picks
to unwind their hearts


Poem first published in Star*Line.