Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” ― C.S. Lewis,
You are 'Shift'*
you have the power
to bend light
so that there, the far side
is turned away
so that there is no other side:
when you beget
and we forget.
You the shapeshifter
sometimes sidling in
with whisperings of Reason,
freeing speech to the winds
old epithets torn, re-formed
as soundbites
for the somnolent.
Your coils though slowly capture
encirclement as chains
imperceptible
tightening on all the Tellers of our Time
with inversions, perversions
and paradox*
You were there at the beginning
when the world was manifest
as glorious, multifarious.
You are still here, Hegemony
with the power to hold us all
in thrall, to the smallest
one-eyed eidolon
of your dominion
- Shift was a talking Ape, the main antagonist in Lewis’ book ‘The last Battle” (1956) from which the epigraph is taken,
- “The Decline of Freedom of Expression and Social Vulnerability in Western democracy”
- eidolon: An insubstantial manifestation of a person or (occasionally) thing; a spirit, a phantom; an apparition.
For Li’s Poetics Prompt we are writing to the good or evil of Power. I eschew politics in poetry especially when overtly partisan but this is about the struggle we citizens have always had to think for ourselves
PoetryPix 
Now I recall shift and that poor donkey… yes and we are sometimes willingly led to believe in things that simply are not true…
yes the donkey spouting what the ape told him to say as of today when dressed up as something we normally believe
Laura, a deep thinking on matters of vital importance to every one and everything. I will have to read through it a few more times to fully grok it but I do get the gist. Glad you returned from Spain in time to write to this prompt.
How was your trip?
thank you Lisa for the prompt which gave rise to some deep thought 😉
Madrid was hot (40c) every day which forced us indoors to be inspired by churches, museums and art galleries
You are welcome, Laura. Ooh sizzlin hot! What torture to be inspired by churches, museums and art galleries 😉 Did you get anywhere near Gaudi or Alhambra?
no one in Catalonia and the other in Andalusia – I stuck to the capital
Deeply profound Laura, an eternal dominance, great write 🙌
many (belated) thanks – as the spam catcher made another error
Thanks Laura it does play up quite a lot x
It’s hard not to be influenced by outside forces, whether for good or ill. How much of what we believe is really our own? It’s something to ponder. (K)
so true Kerfe – – we do, for the time being at least, have more sources than before
I don’t know that book but I will look for it Laura, in any case your poem is a clear evocation of the times we live in and not just in the US…
I hope you do manage to read the book and enjoy the message!
and I believe it is much less an evocation of the US than in Western Europe – why else do the Eastern blocs smell the familiarity of totalitarianism in the air
My goodness! This is so complex and erudite that I need a minute to reflect and ponder. But that’s what poetry is for, right? Thank you for challenging me.
thank you Kim – it is a topic for thought!
I perceive this to be a religious poem. I am not religious, but I did feel the power of it.
thank you – your perception is not that far off since hegemony kills the spirit – and apologies from the spam catcher that does not always discern correctly