Of Truth and Spleen

photography: Dystopia by Ian Hemingway

photography: Dystopia by Ian Hemingway

 

I cower at your feet – 

A docile body – 

With no thoughts of its own

But those of your creation.

Identity depleted 

Of jagged edges all:

I am like him

And he is like the next.

In this – our condition –

Of quieted un-freedom 

We are amalgams of the same.

Are these the truths you seek?

Are we – such things of pity –

That you crave power over?

Yet know that yours won’t be

The only truth to reign

And we shall turn

The tide against itself.

And should our power fail us

We shall imagine sabres –

Or teeth of steel –

To give home to our spleen.

 

*

Writing Challenge: The Ray Bradbury Noun List Twist

2. Your nouns. Create a list of at least ten nouns. (If you can think of more, great, you’ll have more nouns to choose from.) Write a new piece using at least five of the nouns on your list.

My list: Modernity, Freedom, Identity, Creation, Condition, Action, Rulers, Power, Truth, Existence.

7 thoughts on “Of Truth and Spleen

  1. I love the poem and image equally, both strong, vulnerable, deep, exquisite. Your line: …I am like him
    And he is like the next…. evocative of existence and time. Beautiful work.

    • At times the obstacles that we encounter appear so great that we become strangers to our own capacity to act. I hoped to capture both our vulnerability and our strength (lest it remains occluded). A very thoughtful comment, Elisabeth. Thank you.

  2. Pingback: Night Carnival [FLASH FICTION] | Ramisa the Authoress

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