Shadows

(note to contest host- forgive my occasional rhyming passages- I just wrote several such pieces and that’s the frame of mind I’m in, and it’s a very hard frame of mind to break! You will see me struggling in this piece between rhyme and freeverse… and maybe that will fascinate you…)

(the 'shadow' itself is the piece's singular metaphor, singular because there is so much behind it...)



I kicked him, I punched him, I pushed him down
and then the shadow lifted… and I saw I was wrong…

so, following house-elf code-of-conduct,
I’m going to throw myself out the window now…
but first…




“make sure it’s a POEM” he said, and I jumped…

to a conclusion-

my mind reeled back
to my fiery encounters
with the haughty, the lame,
the narrow, the presumptuous
the just plain bad and vicious, the cruel
who cast shadows
that cloud the senses we perceive the world through…


it was dark when I read it-
“make sure it’s a POEM”


I saw monsters and villains
shackling me in chains,
while stomping on the sacred grounds of creativity
cackling out their self-serving schemes
in a backwards, oppressive, limited world…

(hey, sounds like communism...! -auth.)


“make sure it’s a POEM”
and then I saw
“Other rules:
-left align
-no rhyme
-free verse only
-metaphors are needed
-imagery is needed
-50 words at least
-200 words at the most”

and clouded by the shadows cast by fools
I misconnected the two-
it was a haughty demand for a poem with the limiting rules…
“make sure it’s a POEM (and not some worthless garbage that is not left-aligned like us great-ones write, you stupidass!)”

I exploded!
“Nooooooo! He’s been influenced by the shadowy creeps
out to kill creativity, to bring us all down and set themselves up as tyrants
in a stifling world!
He needs a good whipping, an ass-kicking to boot
while he’s still young, while there is still hope…

So I proceeded to kick, I proceeded to punch,
I proceeded to knock him away from his shadowy influence…

he pleaded innocence… of course, what scum wouldn’t…

but there was something in his voice
that made my look back
to his phrase…
“make sure it’s a POEM”

I calmed myself, I’ve been wrong before,
more often than right, in fact…
so I took a look back…

and the dark veil that hung like death over the phrase finally cleared,
“make sure you select one of my POEMS,
you may select one of my quotes if you like…”

Oh, SHIT!
What have I done?
Motherfucking shadow-makers,
I’ll kill everyone
of those son-of-a-bitches!
Wrong again because of their dark obfuscating bullshit!
Damn!




So he’s getting up, a bloody mess,
shock and horror, and then hate and revenge
flicker in his terrible eyes…

So, how to explain it all to him right now…
I don’t think he will listen,
if I were him I’d be looking for something to bash my head in…

“Um, guess what, I misread your phrase “make sure it’s a POEM”. Hehe. Um...
Sorry about the cuts, bruises, permanent loss of nerve cells, broken bones,
and missing teeth, but I was concerned for you…”

(NOW I see the irony in that! I forgive you, father... -auth.)

and his reply would be,
“What? You motherfucking goddamn piece of stupid asinine shit!
What the hell is this all about? I’m gonna kill you. Let me go!”

I’m holding him at arm’s length, he’s swinging madly, wildly,
foaming at the mouth, spitting out his last two teeth…
I’m trying to come up with a way to make him see…
to see the dangers of the dark shadows cast by fools…

ah Hell, there’s no getting through to him in his state right now,
all I can say is “but… but…”
and he says “but shit, you motherfucking son-of-a… I’m gonna kill you, you psycho-bastard!”


I wanted to tell him his downfall was his clipped English,
as it had been mine more often than I realized,
when people heaped tirades upon me for whatever misconstrued reason…
I wanted to tell him that he should have used a complete sentence,
as in
“make sure you select one of my POEMS”

rather than the misconstrued
“make sure it’s a POEM”

but he was in no mood for a lengthy and possibly complex English lesson,
especially from me...




Someday I am going to invent anti-shadow spray,
and we may all misconstrue the unknown frontier in a clearer world…