You say
Freedom is Freedom
. . . not bodies in the street.
But freedom and slaughter
are only words,
and words being words
mean nothing.
This page is empty,
the street is full.
Author notes
I just added the last line, do you think it works? Should there be an 'and' in front of it?
The idea for this poem evolved from a discussion about the nature of truth.
A contest entry
- Propaganda by Zixaphir.
550 points, ended December 11, 2007, 14 entries
Silver trophy winner
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What does this mean to you? Improvements?
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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The last couple lines are great. Not too fond of the title. But not bad. Thanks for entering.
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Yeah, I kind of just put it there, I'm trying to come up with a better one but I'm not sure what fits, do you have any ideas?
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Hmm, "Words Mean Nothing" would work I think.
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I was considering that but it seemed to straight to the point, I am afraid I might lose mystery.
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Good job
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It is short, but it says so much in so little. don't know if it's really the deeper meaning of freedom, but that's only my opinion, but i understand where you are coming from. thatnks for sharing with me
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i agree with u soooooo much
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Words mean what definition we give them to, each word being its own thought, usually composed of other words, sounds, imagery, and interpretation based on clause. That said, yes, words by themselves mean nothing. Freedom suggests good, and slaughter suggests bad. That being said, I like this poem for its attempt to use words with meanings it describes as nothing, therefore giving itself a unique irony.
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When I wrote this I had just finished reading a textbook on how language changes through out time, it appeared to me that truly what we say now means nothing over time. I suppose here I was particularly trying to get at how the military sanitises their speech so war doesn't sound as bad, a prime example being the phrases and euphemisms that arose from the Vietnam war eg. air support which means bombing, and pacification which means wiping out and destroying small villiages.
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