Bigger Toys

The game outgrows the rules

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Rank me.

Stripe me early.

Give me the louder stick.

Doctrine me.

Brief me
on whose sandpit
is currently mine.

Deploy the bigger boom
because the smaller one
already got boring.

Collateral the other side
of the playground.

Call the crater
a successful objective.

Promote the one who didn't flinch
when the toys stopped looking like toys.

Geneva me into obedience
like this is still a game
with rules.

After-action the damage.

Sanitize the names
of the ones who were only playing
on the wrong side of the fence.

Chain-of-command me
all the way up
to the boy with the biggest desk
and the reddest button.

Let him press it
the way we used to press
the big red button
on the toy that made the siren sound.

Debrief me later.

Tell me how well we played.

Tell me the noise was necessary.

Tell me the boom
was the point
all along.



— UpsilonA