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  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
    • Staff 2021 -22
    • Staff 2020
    • Staff 2019
    • Staff 2019
  • Issues
    • A Fire of Words
    • Editor's Note 2022 >
      • The Floor Wallows Lower
      • Cornflowers
      • Erudite
      • That One Morning
      • mom, im afraid
      • selenophilia
      • Roses and Rainbows
      • If a poisonous snake bites itself, will it die?
      • Rochester
      • Crown of Branches
      • Stairs to the Sea
      • A Poem Written Entirely From Advertisements
      • Pyromania
      • silhouette of a bird against winter stars
      • thunderstorm in the bedroom
      • A Night in Recovery
      • sleeping gypsie
      • paper dolls&goodbyes
      • We Are Women
      • Village Air
      • Sunshine's Laughter
      • the male gaze
      • The Forensic Entomologist
      • Lacking
      • Drowning
      • Adelie
    • Create the Wonders We Dream (2021)
    • Editor's Note >
      • Zove
      • I'm Sorry
      • Fake Smile
      • My Friend the Balloon
      • Eyes Intertwined
      • Perfect
      • Only a Moment
      • A Dangerous Word
      • My Dreams
      • The Last 100 Meters
      • The Green Void (Villanelle)
      • The Whimsical Galaxy (Sestina)
      • The Silent Kindness
      • Pressure
      • Table on the Hill
      • The Yukon
      • The Shore
      • Repentance
      • Her and I
      • Infections of the Soul
      • Threads
      • Dream of a High Schooler
      • Empty
      • little flame
      • scars
      • black and white
      • The Cat
      • Joy
      • Sweet Honey Bee Stings
      • If There Were One Day
      • Delete
      • Our Hearts to Central Vietnam
      • him or Him?
      • Ocean
      • Es Llaner Beach
      • Sewn Together
      • Rain
      • Yes, I Like
      • The Legacy of the Moon
      • The Wind Whimpers
      • From Here I See
      • To Feel Clean
      • Red
      • Survival
      • Substance
      • Golden Lies
      • Midnight Tango
      • Ode to a Spleen
      • Modern Siren
      • The Night's Diamond Tears
      • Beats In Double Time
      • A Day in the Flight
      • Carved By Venus
      • Lifeline
      • Everest
      • Education
      • How Much of Reality Can Be Observed
      • What is a Spork
      • What is the difference between love and in love
      • What would you have wanted? me to say
      • Planet Caravan
      • The Journey of a Minute
      • The Circus of Scars
      • Mosaic
      • Color
      • Love and Acceptance
    • Colors I Never Knew Existed (2020)
    • Her Voice Remains (2017)
    • Watch Every Second (2018)
    • Words Become Reality (2019)
  • Blog
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Picture

Modern Siren (Villanelle)
By Nicholas Kratz

These words they say are so eloquently twisted to sedate
And form an intricate toxin that serves to corrupt the mind
I feel it constrict around my nape, this heavenly serpent of fate
 
Suffused with shame for the sin of being myself until it’s innate
Spoonfed propaganda from birth, my brain forced to be aligned
These words they say are so eloquently twisted to sedate
 
Constrained from all sides, some days it seems all I can do is wait
Forced to my knees, by a dire ultimatum tightening its bind
I feel it constrict around my nape, this heavenly serpent of fate
 
Clinging to such archaic teachings forces shut the intellectual gate
Repetition and reinforcement to turn my moral compass blind
These words they say are so eloquently twisted to sedate
 
To question their now ingrained beliefs leaves them irate
If I choose not to fall in line, my ostracization I shall find
I feel it constrict around my nape, this heavenly serpent of fate
 
In a society entranced by angelic promises that fabricate a sick bait
I dance to the hypnotizing beat of those that wish to keep me confined
These words they say are so eloquently twisted to sedate
I feel it constrict around my nape, this heavenly serpent of fate
Writer's Statement: Modern Siren expresses my thoughts on religion.
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