String instruments

not just puppets
that make no sounds
no dance, no song
no art their own

wired well
they only fall
when the hands
that guide them
are too small

exercising
fantasizing moments
entertaining,
manipulating content.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..