Marionette
︎︎︎︎︎ Malaya Malandro
︎Oct 11, 2023
There's a puppet
with long glorious strings
when drawn out
laid flat
you can make out the contour of your whole damn life.
The light leaks
from the stairs growing from the side
of a row of abandoned homes.
Jesus the man with a plastic bag
in warm worn black clothing
with his back towards you
climbs them slowly.
A cliff
A hero
A wooden puppet on a bus
Identical set of friends
in sets of 3
Pass me over
and over
Waiting to meet someone,
an old friend,
who hasn't known me in a while.
These places I like,
where there are lotto tickets on the wall
and the cheap bad black coffee,
all of its a remedy to the really, really nice things
That smell so nice,
once you drain it of the blood.
with long glorious strings
when drawn out
laid flat
you can make out the contour of your whole damn life.
The light leaks
from the stairs growing from the side
of a row of abandoned homes.
Jesus the man with a plastic bag
in warm worn black clothing
with his back towards you
climbs them slowly.
A cliff
A hero
A wooden puppet on a bus
Identical set of friends
in sets of 3
Pass me over
and over
Waiting to meet someone,
an old friend,
who hasn't known me in a while.
These places I like,
where there are lotto tickets on the wall
and the cheap bad black coffee,
all of its a remedy to the really, really nice things
That smell so nice,
once you drain it of the blood.
Malaya Malandro is an artist and worker spending time between New York and Los Angeles. She recently released Everything is a Self-Portrait, an art book of poetry and photography, with photographer Francis Kanai.