The powers that be
gave the man
a cannon for a hand.
He had the important job
of rooting out all
that was deemed overtly silly.
It was to achieve
some sort of balance,
a continuity.
The man (with the cannon hand)
had explicit and deliberate
rules that he was to follow.
Those who didn’t align
with the guidelines
were removed.
Those that the man (with the cannon hand)
simply did not like
were also removed.
And so things went
for a little while.
The guidelines were often amended,
new things added,
new things banned.
The guidelines rarely laxed.
Eventually the powers that be
were all able to agree
that the notion of a man
with a cannon for a hand
was quite silly, and that
a super cannon
stationed high above on a super
space station
would be much more plausible.
The man (with the cannon hand)
had not yet gotten
to the cannon hand ban
part of the guideline updates
before he was promptly removed.