Masquerade

With what accent will you
whisper behind your gilded
disguise? Carnival vespers call
your name with raucous abandon.

Garishly primped and paraded
these free-wielding identities
prance about behind
anonymity, hoping to
be dramatically unmasked
in a flurry of jaded surprise.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i have to tell you icelandicblue...my relation to this poem is in thinking of websites like this one...and how many different personas some come onto a site embracing..

one person gets to be as many people as he or she wants to...and often times each different mantra has a completely different personality from the others.

and too often, we use those names to hide behind in order to cause chaos or to wield meanness...but often it is just because we have all those different sides to us...and we want each one to have its own identity..

[icelandicblue]

I could not agree with you more. We are fractured and masks allow some shards to run amok.

[Annabelle Lee]

Your vocabulary is pretty saucy,, this girl's a fan

[icelandicblue]

Thanks Annabelle Lee.

[s y e]

OMG! Just the title of this reminded me of one of my friends. She has always wanted to have a masquerade ball. Loves them and is dying to go to one. I told her I'd have a masquerade ball for her one day. I suggested maybe a school dance? She loved the idea and asked the Head Master if we could, he said that we would need to see and talk with the pupils who are in charge of the theme. I know I would love.

Anyhow, on to your write, this was great! :) I loved it, it was worded so beautifully.

"With what accent will you
whisper behind your gilded
disguise? Carnival vespers call
your name with raucous abandon."

-- Loved this stanza is was so well written. I love wearing masks, not that I wear masks often, haha.

Well done! You said a lot in a short write.

[icelandicblue]

I happen to be fond of this one myself. I'm not entirely sure why.

[s y e]

Maybe because it's so amazing.

[Shivam Murari]

The gilded disguise. We always do it. And we become anonymous to the world and, slowly, to ourselves. The meaning comes across very effectively. The last two lines encourage one to give up the mask and be themselves. I like how you took new approach to the old topic and said it all the more effectively. Nice use of vocabulary. Very nice write.

[icelandicblue]

Thanks so much for that lovely review. I agree with your assessment- especially the danger of becoming anonymous to ourselves.

[Shivam Murari]

:) Uh! Now WC refuses to let me just smile. 25 characters necessary!>.< :P

[icelandicblue]

Yes, I noticed that recent addition. Smile acknowledged, thank you.

[Stefon Napier]

I really liked the jovial disposition of this poem. Very nice and very well done.

[Pete Langley]

I think the number of masks we wear depends on how many diverse ways we wish to be seen by our peers. Hopefully, with the right self awareness, we can throw most of them away eventually. My sort of poem, Blue. P.

[Aethereal]

Isn't it a fact that most people spend their lives trying to figure out who they really are? The mask that we're born with isn't always a good match with who we really are deep inside. Thousands of years ago ancient Greeks wore masks during their plays, and for good reason. An unmasking could lead to a misunderstanding. "Jaded surprise" fits well here. This poem make us think.

[icelandicblue]

Thanks so much. I love your perspective on the poem. I am looking at my words anew.

[Aethereal]

We don't discover our true selves by looking a mirror. What we see there could be an imposter. If we live the way we look and not the way we are, then we waste our lives. If most people looked the way they really are, there would be many monsters among us. The interior of a book isn’t the look of its cover.

[Creepy Swine Guy]

At first I was befuddled as we do not hope to be unmasked when we hide. But upon further review, I see an analogy here between the "guilded disguises" and the things that we write. If our scratchings are these "guilded disguises", then yes, we would hope to "be unmasked" because we want readers to see past the disguises to the emotions or events that brought the words.

This is how I read it.

[icelandicblue]

As always your review examines the depths of the poet's words. We hide and wait anxiously to be found. Thank you so much for commenting.

[KAOlmsted]

I'm not one hundred percent on the meaning behind this, which is what makes it a really great write, as it is open to my interpretation, so...here goes...we all wear masks, some because we are too frightened to show our true face and own the behavior we display while the mask is firmly in place, which, to my thinking, is the true behavior, but...when we discover the true behavior is not as bad as we imagined (because, face it, we are all insecure) then we want desperately to reveal our identities and take credit for the behavior. If it proves to be undesirable behavior, well, then the mask can stay firmly in place. But even undesirable behavior is desirable to some...so...let the unmasking begin.

Just my take. It was either that or give you a big long spiel on the Mardi Gras celebration we had here in Pensacola a couple of months ago ;-) They take down the Christmas decoration display in Walmart (my favorite store, what of it *laugh*) and immediately put out the purple and gold ornaments. Being a Yankee ;-) I'd never seen anything quite like it.

Oh look. A two-fer xD You got the interpretation AND the Mardi Gras story. Go play the lottery, lady, today is your lucky day xD xD xD

Excellent write. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[icelandicblue]

LOL- love everything you wrote. The prompt for this were all the machinations and sock puppet accusations that have been sweeping the site. However, there is deeper meaning in the greater context of our lives and I do think we had our true faces for so many reasons, including our bad behavior, but really all we want is to be understood.

I always forget that Florida is a southern state since it's filled with so many Yankees. Thanks for the Mardi Gras update!

[KAOlmsted]

Always my pleasure...meanwhile, I live on the border of Alabama ;-) We're so cracker my swimming pool is full of soup xD

[icelandicblue]

I thought it was chowder!

[KAOlmsted]

xD

[Dr. Wood ?]

I liked jacob's response to this...and mirror it really..and you are right, we all hide behind a mask of some sort..It is human nature..Even those very outgoing and open folks have some secret that they keep hidden

[icelandicblue]

Dr. Wood- it is so true. Thanks so much.