Aug
The Maze Parade
by Katie Fluegel, aka Katie C.
Come on in to the Maze Parade
Just one step and you’re on your way.
Wrapped in excitement you go with the flow
Put on your mask, become one with the show.
Shackles have fallen, it’s time to be free,
The lies that they told kept you from the party.
Your children are small and depending on you
So bring them along, they deserve freedom too.
Look at you now! You’re fitting right in!
Garments discarded, showing skin’s not a sin.
Little tight outfits, mom and daughter can match,
On parade for them all, which one will you catch?
Here is one now, reel him in, he will do!
Take him down the aisle, make promises anew.
“What did you say child? Sorry, I can’t hear.
You don’t like him? Nonsense. Of course you do, dear.”
What’s this, a divorce? He’s not right for you?
Thank god now we’re back to a family of few.
Sign the papers and step right back into the show
Preening and playing you’re ready to go.
This one with the feathers and beads in his hair,
Who lives in a trailer, we children just stare.
This one who is rich and cultured and sly,
We sleep on his floor while closed doors muffle sighs.
This one is the One, sign the papers once more,
We’re moving again, oh excitement galore!
He saves his anger for when you’re not home
An angel for you, we’re left on our own.
Another divorce, he just wasn’t quite right.
The Maze Parade continues into the night.
Moving and searching and sifting through guys,
The One has to be there, keep up the disguise.
Tumbling and stumbling and stepping on heads,
You climb farther and farther to hide in their beds.
Higher and faster you’ll find it for sure,
Over the top, yet still you endure.
Sad, so sad, yet diverse, a parade poem down differential aisles of masculine lives of ego and lies and feminine rushes of look at me alone, but matching with my children, let me wish my own designs on you, all being the destroyers of a truer intimacy. This poem is very worthy of both being beneath the surface and over the top for the poetic realism and lyrical tragedy of living.
Aw and such is the state of matrimony in this day and age. Captured well.
I like the topic chosen for this poem but I found the AA BB rhyme scheme and overall meter of the poem to be too much like Dr. Seuss. There is a great social commentary/observation written here (as noted by Monica) but it is discordant with the presentation.
I also liked that you ended on a hopeful, positive note.
I totally got this poem… Sounds like my upbringing. Good luck in the contest!