Zelda's Inferno exercise: "I rush to end the separation" / "the empty promise of freedom"

Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 20:49 By: Tom Swiss

Zelda's Inferno exercise: poem based on the following wordlist, generated from the theme: traffic

patient, stillness, delay, glare, chaos, reflection, overheating, tailgating,
carbon monoxide, separation, congestion, rush, taillight, blacktop,
disabled, backup

I rush to end the separation but
get caught up in the congestion and
the chaos of the backup and
am stuck unmoving, overheating,
instead of moving toward stillness

my patience is disabled
and then I realize
if I'm stuck sitting still
while I'm trying to get to stillness
haven't I already arrived?

there is no where else to go

Exercise 2: free-write from one or more of the following phrases:

extreme vocal attack
there is no cost
empty promise of freedom
the seat of power
hard to argue with

the empty promise of freedom
cults, messiahs, demagogues, rulers
all saying "follow me, I will take you there"
but this empty promise is a contradiction
no one else can take you to the place where
you are free from the need for others to take you places
no one else can give you yourself

freedom is knowing yourself and
no one else can give you yourself
and the empty promises of freedom
are the chatter of salesmen
the bait on the hook
the lure in the snare
the teachers of freedom give tools
not directions, not maps

no one can give it to you
no one can walk it for you
so many empty promises
so many empty words
so many slogans and manifestos
to dress up the vacuum
so the more they talk, the more they promise
the more you can spot the lies

freedom makes no promises