Mercy Merchant

by xanthan gum

Published August 30, 2006

Hush. Your wishes aren't true.
Dry tongue, you lie so fearlessly to the
stars so close to bursting, whispering prayers
over pennies. But you've drifted from
the primrose path to the road of war --
Hansel and Hitler start a coin collection in your footsteps,
Columbus mapping courses in your name.
There are millions to be made, and with your
synthetic naivety you craft it cloudless.
With all this shackled to your ankles, the only weight you bear
is blame.

You play on a pity-piano, pressing nerves,
a hundred different keys at your fingertips.
We bring you good will on a platter; lips pursed you
whistle the candle black and
plunge us all into darkness
while you cut the cake.

Comments & reviews · 3
User avatar
antigone
Review
antigone wrote a review Review · Sep 2, 2006

I loved this, especially

Hush. Your wishes aren't true.

and
Hansel and Hitler start a coin collection in your footsteps,
and
whistle the candle black and
plunge us all into darkness
while you cut the cake.


But, since I think you dislike critiques that only praise,

synthetic naivety you craft it cloudless.
the 'it' is kind of unclear. What's 'it'? I like 'synthetic naivety' though.

You play on a pity-piano, pressing nerves,
a hundred different keys at your fingertips.
We bring you good will on a platter; lips pursed you

I think the flow could be a bit smoother here. Maybe
'You play a pity-piano, our nerves
a hundred keys at your fingertips.
We bring you good will on a platter;
lips pursed you'... etc.

Overall though, very nice. I'm sure there's lots of undercurrents of deeper meaning I'm not quite getting, but I love all your allusions and metaphors etc. The ending makes me think of a cat, self-satisfied and mysterious. Nice work, thanks for posting.

User avatar
xanthan gum
Comment
xanthan gum commented Comment · Aug 31, 2006

Yes, I am bumping. The shame.



"Be yourself" is not advice. It's an existential crisis waiting to happen.
— Hank Green