The Oppressive Narrative
An Ekphrastic Sonnet
Many fear the oppressive narrative
The tale as tyrant, irresistible;
Full of directives bold, imperative
Molding minds with its hand, invisible
How meek and malleable are our minds?
Have you imbibed as gospel all you've read?
Narratives appear in myriad kinds
Ought any to elicit squealing dread?
Reading is not mere passive absorption
It always entails interpretation
Our intellects and imaginations
Embrace some things, and many others shun
Stories cannot oppress without our aid
By readers sense or nonsense must be made
About the Creator
D. J. Reddall
I write because my time is limited and my imagination is not.
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A Glaring Omission
I made peace with being cast out by others pretty early in life. As lonely as it may sound, I don’t recall many times during childhood when those actions affected me any longer than a moment or two. Being deemed the weird/gay/weird gay freak by everyone from neighborhood kids to blood relatives allowed me the privilege of sneaking away whenever I pleased to dive deeper into hobbies that molded the proud pop culture geek and writer I am today.
By Jonathan Apollo5 days ago in Psyche
Comments (4)
My favourite was third stanza and last two lines. So brilliantly written!
Every new reader interprets a text in a different way. This is why I always reinforce the subjectivity of reviews. It's quite an intimate rapport, reader and book, I think.
Reading entails interpretation for sure and readers are so different from different experiences! 🫶🏻🫶🏻
This sonnet describes the notion of the art of reading. In “imbibing” the words of works of literature, we drink in ideas and continue down the pathway of righteousness.