Are you the Puppet Master?

I was not

the Puppet Master,

I was the puppet slave.

It was I who was

manipulated by strings attached

pulled by society's burdens,

and religious icons,

left dangling

in their wake of 

unpleasant artistry's-

their ideals.

Yes! Brought to life by their imagery, 

my movements controlled but

thrown, waving blindly

by their disarray

only to be left in a heap....

the strings cut

on my disbelieving,

I was set free.

I did not conform.

Reviews

[Richard🖌]

Well, Dear Andrew,
This is far beyond simple smatterings, it speaks in a powerful, easy, appealing flow of impacting poetic voice, delivering an eye-opening message we all need to hear about conditioning of the mind, emotions, and soul to fit neatly into societal and religious pigeonholes, rather than being allowed to develop into our own individual entities of freethinking, creative individuals.
True, it could be that most may need a rulebook on living and thinking, but what of us rare individuals who create such an amazingly wondrous world for all the rest … we need our strings to be cut loose so we can soar.
You certainly got me to thinking, Andrew, and fortified my resolve to remain free … is this not something meaningfully important poetry should do?

Kudos to you for this brilliant piece, My Friend … thank you! ⁓ Richard : )

[andrew mitchell]

Hi Richard, glad you found a smattering of mine worth commenting, although I call them splatterings of my thoughts lol.. I am honoured to have your review as I have read many of your sonnets and writings showing strict disciplinary order worthy of a fine poet. Thank you for stopping by my friend and keep up your good work.

[Richard🖌]

Thank you, too, Andrew,
I certainly appreciate the fine compliment from you, one of the onsite writers I highly regard.
I very much enjoyed this piece from your skilled pen and free-thinking mind and heart.
Note that in my portfolio are many forms of poetry, Andrew, including a large number of Free Verse and Free Style pieces, and beneath each title is noted the form it is composed in, if you might be interested in some of my unstructured pieces.
I have actually read a good many of your poems, Andrew … I am notorious for reading and reviewing later, but have a tendency to forget which ones I've read.
I love reading other's efforts, because I learn so much about my poet and poetess friends, and as a lonely man (I've been lonely all my life; it's one of my permanent characteristics), reading others often offers me a sense of comfort and peace … yours among them, My Friend … thank you so very much for sharing.

[Norman 223]

A powerful indictment of the effects of nurture controlling nature. Personalities can be controlled, changed, and, sadly, even distorted by the puppet masters that you mention.

[andrew mitchell]

we are a manipulated society, i'm experiencing this at the moment in the corporate run world where i am just a number nothing more and they cut your wages and hours where they feel like it being a shift worker.