Cheering for Jerry

remember those rose-blush evenings
when opinions lingered
like fresh strawberries
on virgin tongues,
an unfamiliar tartness
teasing our fructose smiles;

Gandhi and Che, Moses and Hafiz,
sprawled on our sinking couch,
our debates longer than the night,
our silence louder than the TV,
our prejudices painting contradictions
on the animated canvas air;

you were indignant,
that we mocked the instinct of the cat,
our collective cheering of an underdog mouse,
a sign of our own inadequate lives;
and what will you feed a hungry cat, you asked,
and we hid pink stained lips,
in the collars of our madras checks;

the puppet masters, you said,
have got your thoughts on strings,
your eyes roll
when they angle their wrists,
your words flow
when they tickle their hips;

but you cut the cords and wrapped yourself
in blankets of scented earth,
wished minds would waft into the sky
to fill the dark of the the waning moon,
that we could discover why we were made
why despair set in so soon…

then why in these Autumn years
do you let the rodents win?
why is your heart tethered to this world,
why do you care what they will say,
why ask me to temper my love,
what is unnatural anyway?

Linked to Poets United where the midweek prompt is “animation” and to Dverse Poets OLN.