UPIKE English Major Mack Gibson

Make it Right Make It Red

"I have a job for you,                                                                                                The most important yet.                                                                                                   I need you to make a thing.                                                                                       Make it right, and make it red."

"I can do that,                                                                                                                                         No problem at all.                                                                                                                               What is the thing?                                                                                                                                                         I can make it all."

"Don't worry about that,                                                                                                                       Just do as I say.                                                                                                                                   Can you do this?                                                                                                                                  Make it right, and make it red."

"It'll be tough,                                                                                                                                           Since you won't tell me at all                                                                                                         What I'm making.                                                                                                                             But I think I can manage."

"That isn't right,                                                                                                                                      The shape is all wrong.                                                                                                                         Start over right now.                                                                                                                           Make it right and make it red."

"I think I've got it,                                                                                                                             Though you're no help at all.                                                                                                             Is this what you wanted?                                                                                                                        It's red and all."

"You've nearly got it,                                                                                                                            But there's something wrong.                                                                                                               Make it again.                                                                                                                                        Make it right and make it red."

"I've been thinking.                                                                                                                                 Are you sure about red?                                                                                                                      Wouldn't blue work better?                                                                                                            Much better than red?"

"No, that's not right.                                                                                                                 It has to be red.                                                                                                                                                    Blue wouldn't do.                                                                                                                                   Make it right and make it red."

"Here it is,                                                                                                                                               Finished at last.                                                                                                                                I've made it right,                                                                                                                                     And I've made it red."

   "This is nearly perfect,                                                                                                                   But the color is wrong.                                                                                                                         It's too warm and too bright.                                                                                                            Try something else instead."

"Too warm?                                                                                                                                            Too bright?                                                                                                                                                            Nearly perfect you say?                                                                                                                 How about purple?"

"It needs to be cooler,                                                                                                                            This shade will not do.                                                                                                                             The purple's too much.                                                                                                                           Much better in blue."

"Blue?                                                                                                                                                           Of all things?                                                                                                                                                   Why now after all?                                                                                                                                                     I've made this right, and I've made it blood red."

"You're not paid to think.                                                                                                                    Do as you're told.                                                                                                                                      I said from the beginning.                                                                                                                      That blue is like gold."

"That's not what you said.                                                                                                                          It's here in black and white.                                                                                                                       You wanted it red.                                                                                                                                               You wanted it 'right'."

"What's it matter,                                                                                                                                         Black, blue or red?                                                                                                                              I pick the color,                                                                                                                                                      And I say it isn't red."

"I haven't a problem                                                                                                                               With the color you chose.                                                                                                                 But why make it over                                                                                                                            When you asked for it so."

"You'll do as I tell you.                                                                                                                           And be happy to please                                                                                                                                 Or you'll be gone today.                                                                                                                            And replace in a week."

"Much better to be gone                                                                                                                           Than to slave away                                                                                                                                                    For one such as you                                                                                                                            Who doesn't know their own way.'

"After all I've done?                                                                                                                              And the things I've said?                                                                                                                               To betray me like this?                                                                                                                           You're out of your head."

"You're blind                                                                                                                                           Or a fool                                                                                                                                                         I don't care which.                                                                                                                                  I'm sick of this."

"Be sick                                                                                                                                                    Be tired                                                                                                                                               But do as I say.                                                                                                                                    There can be no other way."

"Many paths lie before me                                                                                                                  Many right, many wrong.                                                                                                               The one that I yearn for,                                                                                                                 Is any one you're not one."

Land of Confusion

I awake in a strange and terrible place.                                                              The cold sun freezes.                                                                                                 And the grey clouds burn.
The trees weep bloody tears of bile and acidic perfume.
Others bloom, strange and new.
A cherry tee, with blossoms like human teeth
A willow with fleshy branches like sinew
A might oak, covered in bony blades
They roar in pain when the whipping winds set their limbs to break.

The ground is soft, and the air is hard,
Like walking in water and breathing in tar.

A man flayed from head to toe waves at me
With a toothy smile.
The children are twisted, wrinkled, and old.
They gather around their mother’s bones,
Playing jacks, or fiddlesticks.
Mother sits in peace, on a rotted park bench,
Holding herself high else she falls lopsided.
Her skin pulls taut as she forces a smile.

This place, full of strange things.
I wouldn’t dare say, whether up was up,
Down seemed to run some other way.

Rivers run bloody, with fish full of rot,
Fruit trees bear apples, filled with pus and snot,
Berry bushes with frogs’ eyes and guts,
A house made of people, filled with great trees,
And screaming streets paved with flesh.

This place is not normal,
But the people here,
If people at all,
Seem perfectly fine.

Mangled dogs walking battered men,
With skin tattered like fur,
Collars of tongues, and leashes of entrails.

Great horned birds drag round rusty cages,
Filled with old women, covered in filth.

But the strangest thing I see
Is me.
Polished plate, made from human skull,
Shined bright to a mirror
My face, stretched far from ear to ear.
A smile of horrid glee.
My scalp is torn, and my skull is shattered.
A crown of moldy bone fragments.

The dogs and the children
Bow their heads low
To the monarch of misery.

My ears ring with cries of delight,
Screams of joy, and jubilant shrieks.
This isn’t so bad.
There are so many here with me,
And not a frown to be had.
If these wretched things
Can smile in pain,
Why shouldn’t I be the same?
It’s only natural, that I fit in,
In this strange place
The one who stands out,
Is the one who blends in.
So I carry on my way
Smiling and happy.

Until I see a young girl.
Her eyes are cloudy, and her cheeks tear streaked.
What’s wrong, little girl?
Why are you crying?
In this special place,
You should always be smiling.
I’ve lost my way, she says
I’ve been here a while
This place and these things scare me,
And I want to go home.
I look at the child.
Something isn’t right,
Her skin is smooth and her hair shines bright.
I know how to fix this,
I say to the girl.
As I tear off her head,
And mend her plight.
I send her away,
Smiling.