Marionettes
All tied to the stage
Battered and broken
Begging for every token
Puppets for our masters
Walking disasters
Refusing to fall down
Standing on The stage now
Don't forget to bow down
You don't wanna stand out
Long to be free and roam out of your skin
But you would be punished and further broken
Beggin
Pleading
On your knees repeating
Marionettes all tied to the stage
Battered and broken
Begging for every token Puppets for our masters
Turning into crawling disasters
You long to see
What's on the other side
Could there be a good side
After all this time
How could it be
So hard to find
Yet so easy to see
But your broken
Bleadin
On your knees repeating
Over and over again
I am a marionette
Tied to the stage
Battered and broken
Begging for every token
A puppet for my master
A walking disaster

Hands
Eyes
Feet
God
Charade
Pink
King
Dress
Blessed
Make up
Pastels
Ponies
Hearts
Carts
Darts
Future
Born
Torn
Plain
Wrapp­ed
Trapped
Ice
Wings
Strings
Scissors
"Fallen angel"
Silhouette

Marionette

The strings tightened their grip on her wrist.
She couldn’t fight them.
She needed help.
The knives were so close, yet so far away.
If only she could reach them.
If she fought hard enough
She could.
It’s happened before
They have escaped before.
They fought, and they won.
But there are those who didn’t win
Those who fought and lost.
They were replaced.
They were ignored
They were left behind.
That’s why she didn’t fight.
She was scared
What if she couldn’t fight them?
What if she lost?
The strings moved her hands
As the marionettist gently moved them.
Her hand rose above her head
The little girl below her covered her face
No. NO! STOP!
She had had enough
The strings broke her skin as she resisted.
The blood flowed down the strings
As she fought.
The marionettist was getting impatient.
I helped you. Now you help me. That’s only fair, right?
He said. For a second, she believed him.
No. It’s not.
She reached for the knives. She was winning.
But they were still out of reach.
Then the strings broke.
She had won.
She was free.
And she was done with the strings.

Music
Fills this hollow body
Making it sway
As a rhymthic marionette

take me and break me
a ragged doll
my porcelain skin cracked open and your shadows creeped in
i try to hold myself together
but it's hard when someone else holds the strings
        how do you do it?
i am full of holes
you spill out of me like blood from an open wound
        how could you do it?
you made me into nothing
i am still in awe
still curious
am i your muse or your monster?

Marionette
She'll declare you lovely
And she'll clasp your hand and run you down the street
To the little coffee shop no one really sees
You will have coffee over a little chat
About how much she hates coffee
And she'll talk too much, and then none at all
She'll giggle and brush her 60s pin curls behind her ear
And her glistening eyes will watch you fall in love with her
And she'll have no idea

i could go to the courtyard, if i wanted to.
i won't, but i'll pretend to, so i get the heady rush of possibility.
but i never told you why i love the smell of rain and you never told me why you love like rain
i guess we're even,
i guess we can't rely on karma to get by.
i think you should know that i love you, or used to love you, or will love you
i think you should know about the incisions. three over your heart and around it
and, and darling, is it too late to tell you about the fireplace? i hope not.
it's ashy and unused. we make a fine pair
you can be the puppeteer, if you want
i your perfect marionette (pale and pretty,
pearls at my throat)
your mind is racing. do you remember the cave, princess?
sorry, i know, you hate it when i call you that.
do you remember the blood on my hands? do you remember tipping my chin up, drinking it in
first the blood and then me
it was fast, but i understand. self control is a luxury
we can't all afford to be precise.
but, sweetheart, you misfired, didn't you? or didn't fire at all, meant to fire but forgot.
you don't like hospitals. you don't like orders and you don't like order
i know this. we both do.
(i know why you sit the way you do, back ramrod straight.
you're afraid of falling.)
you're afraid of your reflection
you ask me to paint you and when i'm finished
you bite your lip. "you look like your
father," i lie through my teeth
you couldn't be more different. i love this about you.
you listen to the same three albums on repeat
when i get tired of hearing them i ask you, measured
to please turn the volume down.
you turn it up,
smiling like you know a secret that i don't.
i stop asking you for things. it's okay,
this is normal.
you stopped answering me a long time ago, anyway.
when i turn to look at you, your fair hands are stained red. i do not breathe.
we stay like this, quiet and unsure
you filling the silence for me.
if you do love me, it's not in the way that everyone talks about
it's a hurricane love. this is not like breathing
it's like drowning
but you taught me to swim twelve years ago in a kiddie pool in the backyard
and i know i will never leave you. my strings are clutched too tight in your fists.
i move around but not beyond you. this is how it has always been.
when you kiss me, i taste metal on your tongue.
my mouth comes away red and i do not care
loving you is a blood sport anyway.
i will fold into you, become a bullet,
cry myself hoarse.
this is the only way i can be close to you.
i could go into the courtyard, if i wanted to, but you're there
and i don't want you to know about me.