Applause from the Masses

bumbling, prattling
pretty in pink grasping
wrinkly and liver-spotted
hackneyed jesters
don the brass
paste crowns


pretty boy Hamlets
heir-apparents clad in black
mask for the masses
when the tintype
is rolling


the digital buffering

it's a matinee performances
subbed in with understudies
elbow dances, pirate salutes
for a conned, captive crowd

fearful, righteous, scriveners
fattened and pithy publicists

existence is easier
when someone else
gives you a script
pays you to parrot

puppets and marionettes
get handsy behind the scene
with ambitious, willing
up and comers

in the darkened house whispers
a bespectacled stage manager
on-ready to pull the strings
when the lights come up
once again

Falstaff frolics and farcical interludes
in between commons tragedy and climax
the indefatigable and unflagging Thane of Fife
Macduff and his nature-loving zealots
approach with Birnam Wood

Beware the denouement
when all plank strutters
are forced to wrap

it's a modern re-imagining of an old classic
but the velvet curtain still comes down
with applause from the masses
ropes swinging in the wings

9 of 81

https://twitter.com/Sunshin57927853/status/1463640209182969857

- Sunshin57927853

Drink deeply from your cup
Share what lies within
There is always more
Your cup is served by the Tao

An over-flowing cup
Leads to waste
Nourishes no one

Sharpen your knife
Defend with cut after cut
Soon you will be left with a needle
Then nothing, still in want of defence

Care not for wagging tongues
Of those who do not know the Tao
One moment they wag their tongue
The next their tail

Be not the prisoner of a puppy

***