The Collected Works of Illyiss

[Karmack]

Ode to Austin... 

They cried "Peace! Peace!" but there is no peace...

[Illyiss]

Ode to Austin... 

They cried "Peace! Peace!" but there is no peace...

Austin, and the nation as a whole.  Sadly, we can't think of this in terms of "there".  We have to start accepting that this is a national reality, and train ourselves to believe that this can happen anywhere.  I'd have to imagine this is how the people of Naboo, and then Republic felt...  And yes, relating things to music and fiction is one of my coping methods.

[TheDutchman]

Now is the world
In which we live
Where safe applies
No longer

Once we thought
I am safe
That only happens
Over there
Far away
Other places

Now in our homes
We question the mail
Did we order that
Is it safe
To open and see

Avoid the right
That lane could be
Unsafe
Is that a wire
Or just a stick

Never will the world
Be what once was
We have joined
The rest of Earth
Danger came home
Safe isn't safe
Anymore.

Not only is this incredibly timely but also pertinent to SO much of our collective mentality.  I applaud you for not only the content but also striking RIGHT at the heart of the matter.  Well done, sir, well done.

Ode to Austin... 

They cried "Peace! Peace!" but there is no peace...

JUST like Illyiss: this rings SO true given the national pulse.  Kudos Karm.

[Illyiss]

Not only is this incredibly timely but also pertinent to SO much of our collective mentality.  I applaud you for not only the content but also striking RIGHT at the heart of the matter.  Well done, sir, well done.

Thank you.  It needed to come out, to be written, in the environment of the last several days, and some of the conversations I have seen since yesterday.  I am glad it conveys what I hoped.

[Lord_S_Gray]

Another good one Illyiss, very topical. A strange shock to it, but when you reflect on other things like school shootings, high murder rates in impoverished areas I wonder who the speaker is, who was it that ever though they were safe to begin with...its almost a realisation of reality, and that is the real shock, to have to admit you are not immune...but give it a few weeks like after each school shooting or terrorist attack and people go back to how it was before...only those directly effected tend to linger on it...until something else happens and the cycle repeats.

[Illyiss]

Another good one Illyiss, very topical. A strange shock to it, but when you reflect on other things like school shootings, high murder rates in impoverished areas I wonder who the speaker is, who was it that ever though they were safe to begin with...its almost a realisation of reality, and that is the real shock, to have to admit you are not immune...but give it a few weeks like after each school shooting or terrorist attack and people go back to how it was before...only those directly effected tend to linger on it...until something else happens and the cycle repeats.

Believe it or not, there are STILL a lot of people with their heads in the sand on this, that think things like, "It won't happen here", or "That only happens in Europe or the Middle East", or that believe this is isolated, won't reach them, and feel safe when they are told it's not terrorism.  But I'm gonna suggest we not delve to much, as this gets real close to politics. 

It's also a plea, a hope that people will accept that they shouldn't just let it fade.

[Lord_S_Gray]

Believe it or not, there are STILL a lot of people with their heads in the sand on this, that think things like, "It won't happen here", or "That only happens in Europe or the Middle East", or that believe this is isolated, won't reach them, and feel safe when they are told it's not terrorism.  But I'm gonna suggest we not delve to much, as this gets real close to politics. 

It's also a plea, a hope that people will accept that they shouldn't just let it fade.

I'd posit its more psychology than political, its a defence mechanism, to assume you are safe otherwise you end up with huge anxiety problems, forgetting and ignoring is protective in that sense, possibly an evolutionary mechanism...doesn't always work of course but interesting to consider...a reminder like these events could trigger a dissonance that needs to be purged by grief, some kind of temporary activism...but it can't last or it becomes damaging...

Much to consider either way...might be a concept I'll include in a future chapter/interlude. 

[Illyiss]

When will the words
Mean what they meant
Not change each time
An agenda is brought
Twisting and inferring
Or is it supporting
One can hardly tell
Since the fashion
Follows the rage
This season it's us
Next fall all them
No one holds
Things close esteemed
Because making words
Say what you want
Is so much
More vogue
Than meaning
What is said.

[Lord_S_Gray]

hmmm...no words or texts are communicated out of a particular context nor are they received by another outside of their particular context, if meaning shifts between these contexts is it intentional, or the inevitable result of the difference between I and You, or Then and Now.  Anyways makes me think about how history of countries/cultures is so often seen in different lights at different times as to what drove particular actions, was it great leader/men o whats it the impact of economics/social change, what is an important event...what was Aristole or Kant trying to tell us, can their words retain the same intention they had writing them in a different culture? bit of a tangent I know but might act as an example of what you are trying to get at.  As always most thought provoking Illyiss.

[Illyiss]

Thank you.  I am very glad that my works promote thinking, it's one of my biggest hopes!

[TheDutchman]

When will the words
Mean what they meant
Not change each time
An agenda is brought
Twisting and inferring
Or is it supporting
One can hardly tell
Since the fashion
Follows the rage
This season it's us
Next fall all them
No one holds
Things close esteemed
Because making words
Say what you want
Is so much
More vogue
Than meaning
What is said.

I'm reminded of the book "1984" and "Newspeak"   One moment it's Oceania in a war against Eurasia (and has always been so) but then later Oceania is fighting Eastasia (and has always been) and everyone knows the lies are falsehoods but no one says anything...

This poem is evocative of that for me.  There's always some spin, some sidestep, some other interpretation.

Bravo Illyiss; truly well done.  

[Illyiss]

Thank you, good sir.

[Taegin Roan]

I get the sense of the way the language has changed over the past years. From one generation to the next. I can even see it from when I was younger to now. People do not have as precise a vocabulary as they used to. This may not be anything about what you are getting at with this one, but that is how I interpret it. Almost as if a man is looking back at his early years of life, and comparing it to the society of today's world, and using an example as simple as language, so it can easily be understood. This is obvious in the passages "When will the words -- Mean what they meant" and "Because making words -- Say what you want -- Is so much -- More vogue -- Than meaning -- What is said."

Very interesting how we all see something different in this one poem, most likely due to our differing perspectives on life itself. It shows a true mastery. Well done.

[Illyiss]

Turning
Spinning on and on
The word goes around
While upon it live people
Who think it will never stop
Which gives them space
To ponder the small things
Lament that their problems
Are like the end of the world
Though they are not
Not nearly so much
As the world ending
Would be, if it stopped
For what seems the end
To each single mind
Is only the passing of a moment
Limited in scope
Touching only a few
For a short, short time
While the world
Spinning on and on
Is the foundation
For everyone
For all that time.

[TheDutchman]

VERY poignant Illyiss.

I'm reminded of something that General Colon Powell said:  "Go to sleep and deal with it in the morning.  It ain't as bad as you think."