High Definition

[alexanderscttb]

“. . .why can’t we be what we want to be?
We want to be free. . . [. . .] Three o’clock
roadblock / And hey, Mr. Cop! Ain’t got
no. . . birth certificate on me now.”
-Bob Marley-One can’t speak precisely

Comments

[alycewilson]

This poem reminds me of how I used to sometimea be able, after staring in a mirror, to see myself as if outside if my own persona. A strange feeling I'm not sure you'd understand, but in that moment, I was also deeply aware of how ridiculous the trappings are of what we deem so important in life.

[alexanderscttb]

I feel like I know exactly what you mean. It could be a scary feeling if we began to identify with our persona and image more than our deeper selves. I’m not saying I know what that is even, but it does seems as if we all have a notion of who we are deep down in our soul as it were, compared to who we are as presented to the world. It would be nice if these things were in a deeper harmony because I think at root they are similar, but then as you mentioned, the world as it is now does seem to have a way of drawing us into superficialities, into trappings as you say that can be corrosive and could even make us start questioning whether or not there is anything beyond those trappings.

[encrefloue]

Always happy to see you tackle our daddy issues with Father Time! And I certainly appreciate the intersections of your beef with time and other meaty subjects.

I certainly agree that there is a tyranny in language. We give ourselves over to it wholly and without question in exchange for comfort and structure. Would that we were able to see beyond that structure's walls!

And history and propaganda surely do repeat themselves...if only we could distinguish when these two are one!

I respect that your writing is quite extroverted in that it is keenly focused on instigating a conversation with the reader.

[alexanderscttb]

That’s cool, I didn’t think about that but based on your observation, I feel like I do tend to write in, almost a desperate way, trying to open up a conversation with potential readers. There could be any number of reasons for why that is. One that I would like to try to get behind is that hopefully it turns the situation into a mutual one, where the reader is as important as the writer. After all, what is the point of writing in the absence of a reader

[marlawentmad]

Densely packed, as usual! I have been thinking a lot about Truth. This piece has a lot of meat to chew through about the concept. Your metaphor line landed squarely on my chest. I have been sorting through the personal heavy for a while now, and I have often been thankful for the creative use of language my community has utilized in conversation with me. I think best in story, and truth shines brighter with a sharper edge for having been through the heat of metaphorical forging.

[alexanderscttb]

I think you couldn’t be more right about that.
It’s as if truth needs a being to be important to, otherwise it’s. . . you know?
And since we experience life as a story, kind of, then it should be no surprise that we find meaning in our lives by telling stories. I mean, I could be wrong, but sometimes I feel like meaning is found in the most important stuff after this metaphorical forging you speak of, which is like an interfacing with experience through our hearts and minds?

[karmasoup]

I immediately bristled when talked of the correctness of an idea confirmed by repetition, considering the state of affairs we're living in right now, where so many are drinking in like drowning men in the desert drink the sand of a mirage, and then you came back with the root problem of propaganda and I let out a sigh of relief. ;-) I love the notion that truth has a destiny... you and the late Rev Dr. MLK Jr. believe it to be so, but it can be hard to keep that faith in these so very untrue times rife with falsehoods being the currency of power.

[alexanderscttb]

‘Knowledge itself is power,’ so the power of falsehood can only thrive in a particular kind of darkness, where ignorance reigns. Once you know the magician’s trick-that trick loses its power, to use magic as a metaphor for the intellectual slight of hand performed by Lies, Propaganda, etc