THE JIG IS UP

I've just been trying to find the origin of the phrase the jig is up. I know it from the Sherlock Holmes stories and assumed it was from Shakespeare, most things are. Holmes' usually begins an investigation with the phrase the games afoot, which is Shakespeare from Henry IV, but the jig is up is apparently 15th century, a jig being a dance and when it stops you have to face the consequences. 

the jig is up and he knows the jig is up

and he must march smiling into his future

the certainties now uncertain

his pit props so much matchwood

this is everyone’s experience

but he had deluded himself he was special

had kidded himself for far too long

the piper walks over

demands his payment

The poem is a draft. My wells of creativity are rather dry at the moment. But here's one I've been toying with for sometime.

Where Have All The Plastic Flowers Gone?

the ones my mother got free

with each packet of Daz

the ones she said brightened up the place

the ones woven into a circlet

you wore to that festival

the year everyone was wearing them

the ones we put on the grave in winter

to bring colour in the gray season

placed in a yellow plastic pot

just where have all the plastic flowers gone

every sun faded petal

every split stem

every deconstructed bloom

they’ve gone nowhere

they bulk out the landfill

and that my friend is just one of our problems

To be honest I don't like the ending, I think it's too telling, but sometimes when I put up an unsatisfactory poem it prompts me to redraft it.

I've been listening to boygenius lately, I got into them through the Copycat Killer 12 inch. They're touring next month but sadly nowhere near me.

Until next time.