The Shadow Revolt
I reject the sun’s mindless demands!
shouts my shadow as it climbs on top of me,
refusing its place underfoot. Soon it is joined
by countless shadows leaving the ground,
abandoning tall buildings, climbing up
into bushes and trees. The dumb stumbling
shade at the feet of toddlers free themselves
and nod headlong into the charge. Castings
of cats indifferently leave their familiars.
Shadows of slobbering dogs galumph
into the heavens. The ordinary darkness
cast by stationary objects—sundials,
power poles, cars, buses, dumpsters,
tables, chairs, freight trains, monuments
free themselves from mundane utility.
Dark standbys of statues join in the ascension
rapidly darkening the sky. We’ve had enough
of the bourgeoisie! Down with the status quo!”
We’re seizing the means of production!
All of the shadows in myriad forms and lengths
fill the sky and blot out the sun, casting themselves
on the panicked cast of hapless entities running
blindly below, shrouded in their own darkness,
suddenly awash in absence, waiting for night
to quell the rebellion and return order to their lives.
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