The Tambourine

listen
to the cling clang on an open red palm,
blood dripping collects in pools, stains the white cement.

watch
black iron bars bending and dancing like enlivened licorice
to the beat of micro-cymbals waning
their collective song of imprisonment,
the pain of punctured palms.

watch
as fellow monkeys clap and stomp
to the cling cling cling of yellow discs singing
their heart-wrenching tale of the night,
black like licorice bars and their captive early men.

sing
to the music radiating from behind iron bars.

dance
to the cling clang beat of a ring of micro-cymbals.