The problem with a mask is that sometimes you forget how to take it off. Slip-sliding between worlds, I might arrive with a face from some other universe, time line or reality. Spend travel time in total [un]recall: is it twist knob-nose left, then right; or unzip ear-tab a from chin-tab b? Embarrassing, especially when the invitation reads “come are you are.” Just as home tends to be where I’m not, my personae shape-shifts a micronini too slow to suit where I am.
Some places are more accepting of my forgetfulness. No freaking out if you walk downtown in a inside out body-suit, or you have a few too many eye stalks. Plutovians think it’s a tick-toxic challenge, Janusians just look the other way, and Griswaldians chortle laugh-bubbles out their ears.
But Earth, well, that’s another story! Those folks have no sense of humour; an omission here causes public outcry, moral panic and some pretty gruesome reactions in the pre-20ths. Now they make some streaming gloop-show, cinévérité, or vid based on their misunderstanding of a slight lack of attention to detail or forgetfulness. Shazbot! Wonder what they pay alien/zombie/mutant/thingie-of-the-moment consultants?
Now, where did I put my sonic screwdriver? Otherwise, I’ll be stuck with this humanish face when I get to . . .
Conjuring up some silliness for mlmm first line Friday: the problem with a mask is that sometimes you forget how to take it off
November 20, 2021 at 9:53 am
Hahaaha! Lovely wild wording here, playing with ideas, with a smattering of the realistic – I immediately picked up on under-themes/currents, like having social anxiety or panic attacks etc., which can be all too real; but you’ve so deftly skimmed these ideas in, they are subtle, for the “silliness” of this piece. Speaks to your skills my friend. And yeah, love the ideas and phrases as you set this whole thing up and tell the story. :D
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November 20, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Your periwinle eyelets are spider-webbed into my consciouness. I love the way you play with words, constructs, and po,etic forms. Not a stream of [un]consciousness, but a carefully crafted piece, each word placement like a jigsaw puzzle piece fitting into the whole. Evoking imagery, allegory, and emotion/feeling (I need to come up with a new word for that)
So thanks for your comment — I wrote it this morning after a strange day, and having tried other prompts (with research no less), I went with the flow. The second line wrote it’s self; I had a concept of the ending. The fun was adding all the crazies in between. Thought you would pick up on the undercurrents and the playfulness.
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November 21, 2021 at 10:39 am
Seriously, rereading this later on, I think it’s brilliantly done. It contains so much, even for the quirky and zany, it’s mind-blowing. And yet it doesn’t hit you over the head with a hammer. A very effective story that offers more than what it seems to be on the surface!
As to how it came to be? Sometimes the process is linear, but most often not, and it definitely operates on its own terms – so yeah, just go with it!
And thank you so much for the most lovely and generous comment about being caught in my word web; I think I got into the zone and it came together as it willed itself to be – and that’s all good, but what pleases me most, is that the spell is cast and something lingers, with you – the reader; that’s ultimately what matters – being able to reach in to the act, and halving something stick in the craw, so to speak. It’s the same for your piece – I’m still so gob-smacked by it – and by YOUR stylistic creativity and imagination. You rock and shine, my friend. 😁
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