Proverbs 10:31
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| Gustave Dore: Death on the Pale Horse (1865) |
I have been to the dream-world
and returned lucid with visionary dread.
There is nothing demure about Death,
who rides a slipshod horse, and fist pumps
when he gets it right –
tending the acreage of humankind,
willingly blind to carnage, deaf to hunger,
immune to disease in others –
There are signs, here, in this alternate realm
of hashtag messages momentarily
flickering across every hand-held screen
but the language of prophecy is arcane,
rendering young brains witless.
Believers are few. Wrist-bound, tongues
pulled, they have learned it is better not to pray.
A rather bleak, Blake vision bred of medieval torture, Biblical tracts, contemporary disinterest and Get Listed! with Fireblossom, whose words were altogether more promising than I have given them credit here!
Oh no, I think it's a wonderful use of her words! Bleak, yes, but hard not to be sometimes. (I went nonsensical instead.)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rosemary!
DeleteOh, a gorgeous poem of lost hope and dread!
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit dreadful. Thanks, Margaret.
DeleteThe lucid dream where the nightmare has become the reality. And it seems no one else can see. Great use of the prompt words!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lori.
DeleteThis is an amazing poem. I love how the words inspired such a powerful message.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the words popped out at me, and fit with an idea I have been working on. thanks, Sherry.
DeleteThis really has the feel of one of those nightmares you can't get out of even by waking up and going back to sleep. The events of the day--and the news--combine with fears and random uglies from the subconscious and this is what one gets. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteThat's great.. exactly what I was going for.
DeleteYikes is right. Blake's bleak images overcome one at times. I didn't go nonsensical but I wrote a love poem to one of my favorite guys.
ReplyDeleteWhy on Earth did we stop using Froward in common language as it seems we need to use that word a lot more these days!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. It is most apt.
DeleteTotal desperation. I can't see how it's ever better not to pray
ReplyDeleteLove this, Kerry, in all its bleakness (or Blakeness). I mean really, some kind of not-dream dystopian future we are hurtling toward but no one will notice while looking down.
ReplyDeleteSo true.. it is easy to keep eyes down and pretend.. or hope.. that this will all pass, like a bad dream.
DeleteI feel this to be closer to reality than a nightmare really... which makes it even more bleak. The way you connected back to the ignorant hashtags make reality even darker to me.
ReplyDeleteThe dream world is one place you cannot control. Often, it is very bleak, but sometimes so is the real world. Love the way you used the words.
ReplyDelete