The Realization

The explosiveness of self-discovery and the coming to terms with religious doubt.

All it takes is one strike of a match 

to strike a question:

What if everything you knew was a lie?

Your rope of reality

withers away, sizzling

straight for the black gun power.

With sneering smiles,

The deviants have come

to steal your shielded soul.

Nietzsche whispers

in your trembling ear:

God is dead.

Why do you keep

keep such a thing

so protected?

Dorian traded his for youth,

making beautiful art

from this worldly illusion.

Suddenly, the powder ignites

and all crutches that held you 

are destroyed.

You’re rocketing far away --

flying into a dizzying world

of emotion,

and temptation.

The landing is never anything less

than a chaotic, nihilistic crash.

How will the eyes

of Dr. Eckleburg

ever see without a single soul

who believes in them?

Dorian stabs the soul 

he gave away.

For he’s realized

all art is quite useless.

Author's Note

A great mentor of mine once gave me the assignment to write a poem as a cannon, whether than be a figurative or literal one. So I wrote about my explosive self-discovery I experienced in terms life, religion, and philosophy my freshman year of college.

Reviews

[R Smith]

flying into that dizzying world as Gray destroys hie painting leaves you religion free drawing in the heady world of emotion and temptation but even though religion has gone there is still a spirit within to seek out and find for true enlightenment, brilliant poem.

[Harmartia Poe]

Thank you so much :)

[R Smith]

your very welcome

[Sophy Freebirds]

Wow!! It is just a wake up call for the soul.. -i loved the first line of the third stanza " suddenly the powder ignites and crutches that held you,are destroyed. Very well depicts the receding faith.. as our to fight the temptation ebbs away.. Beautiful piece. I would love to go through more of your works.. ;)


~Sophy

[Harmartia Poe]

My loss of faith was so powerful and I'm glad you think I was able to portray it alright. Thanks so much :)

[Sophy Freebirds]

De nada amiga... ;)

[Shaquana Adams]

I like your style of writing. This poem (and assignment) is really good ^-^
-QuanaWana

[Harmartia Poe]

Thanks a lot :D

[Harmartia Poe]

Ps. my mentor is actually a published poet that taught me during my freshman year of college. His name is Stephen Kampa and he has a couple of collections for sale on amazon in case you are interested :)

[Wórdsmíth]

Oh sounds good .. well, thanks for letting me know about that great mentor and hey ... Does he write or upload his stuffs over the webs except amazon? ;)

[Harmartia Poe]

I'm not sure, to be honest :/ You could try googling his name and see what comes up!

[Wórdsmíth]

Yeah .. i`ve searched about that creative guy on google and believe me his poems`re awesome .. Yeah .. i`ve read his few poems, he`s very talented and hey ... don`t lose that great mentor ... you`d be an awesome writer with the time learning many great tips from that talented writer named "Stephen Kampa" .. All the best!! ;)

[Wórdsmíth]

I like the style you work! I read it once but then after reading it complete I urged to read it again so, yea .. I read this write twice a time. I think, your mentor`s gonna surprised to read this write you came up with ... he really gives you an awesome assignment and you completed it with your full passion of writing, with emotions and with the love of literature. Beautiful poem!

[Harmartia Poe]

Thank you so so much! Man, this website is full of really sweet, kind, and intelligent people! :)

[KeeD]

That was a great assignment and fire in the hole, you've aced it! I like the subtle hints of you woven in between the lines. Now that you're an adult i'd love to read another poem on how you've taken control of the emotion, overcome the temptation or perhaps you're not in control at all and that would be fun to read too. Maybe write the poem as a pair of shoes i'd love to see what you could do with that :)

Don't mind my forwardness^ i'm really enthusiastic about your work it wakes me the f**k up and makes me think which I love.

[Harmartia Poe]

Oh no worries! I am super forward, as well haha. I like the pair of shoes idea! When I get a chance to, I will :) I've mainly been posting work from 1-2 years ago. I'll have brand new stuff up soon :)