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I originally wrote this prose poem on 21 July 1982 as an untitled paragraph in my old Creative Journal. When I turned the poem into a web document in 1997, I settled on "Zarathustra's Disciple" given that the poem was written during a period when I was reading Friedrich Nietzsche very seriously and the Nietzschean influence is undeniable. Also, my design objective was to create lines of near-equal length and form a block of text; I accomplished this structure using a table with an appropriate width. In the process, with the exception of a single word (the "had" formerly at the end of line 5 which also works to some degree), I inadvertently formed meaningful word patterns which I recognized while viewing the page on 27 February 2011. I then recoded the poem as an HTML paragraph with deliberate line breaks where desired. This conscious act makes poetic prose truly a poem...

Zarathustra's Disciple

by Matt Wallace

I gave my love to all, but received none from them. I ran out of love, and no
one refilled me. A scowl crept over my face, and I became enshrouded in my
darkness. I could do nothing to stop this metamorphosis. The love I had was
eaten away by my malice. There was nothing left but my burning vengeance,
and I unleashed it. I destroyed all that I had created. Great was my grief; I
had worked so hard, and I had nothing left. I was lost in the darkness, and this
darkness would not part. Then I saw the dawn of what could be. I would
create again! I would create better and anew! Oh, how great was my rejoicing!

 

Notes from the Forge:

Perhaps pulling out the "meaningful word patterns" and displaying them as I read them would be helpful.

First words read down:

Pixel SpacerI one darkness eaten and had darkness create

Last words read down:

Pixel Spacerno my was vengeance I this would rejoicing

And punctuated:

Pixel Spacerno, my was vengeance, I this would rejoicing

First and Last words read across and down in order:

Pixel SpacerI no one my darkness was eaten vengeance and I had this darkness would create rejoicing

And broken into self-sufficient, single-concept lines:

Pixel SpacerI no one
Pixel Spacermy darkness was eaten vengeance
Pixel Spacerand I had this darkness would create rejoicing

These "meaningful word patterns" seem to achieve varying degrees of intellectual coherence and poetic expression which echo the philosophical content and emotional tone of the full poem.

— Matt Wallace, 19 January 2012


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