“Today I wrote nothing”
on Twitter
as people fell out of Windows
on Amazon’s Prime Day sale
like cats and dogs
and me heart-less
in the cell on Facebook
padlocked
when the famine came
and the rations ran out
and the rats came in.
Writer Daniil Kharms (1905-1942) is one of Russia’s great absurdists, his black humor seemingly politically opaque, but troublesome enough to alert Soviet authorities who threw him in prison where he died forgotten by his jailers.
Join us a dVerse where we are writing a quadrille (44 words exactly) using the word "heart." Click Mr. Linky to read more.
Dreams from a Pilgrimage 
What a chilling, thought-provoking piece. So good.
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Thank you and thanks for the great prompt, De.
pax,
dora
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A perfect absurdist tribute! I really enjoyed this. I didn’t know of Daniil Kharms, so thank you for that, too. 😀
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Well done memorial to him especially with the biography of him at the end.
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Such a poignant tale! I love the idea of being ‘padlocked’ ‘in the cell on Facebook.’
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I really like this… especially how you tied it to modern technology … falling out of Windows makes me think of defenestration as a way to punish people.
rats and rations is such a clever connection.
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Björn,
You made the connections I was shooting for, thank you so much. So good to touch base with dVerse again after a summer break.
pax,
dora
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A sad, sad story indeed, although well-told.
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off planes
and stomping each other to death
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the flight continues
the stampede’s begun
let the dead bury the dead
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their not the. lmao
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🙏
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as you may detect. i did indeed elect to nit pick. it may assuage my frustation, anger and impatience. now awaiting absolution.
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peace, brother. “their” dead makes a diff. nothing wrong with accuracy.
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A clever job of word smithing. Bravo
Much❤love
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Loved your quadrille, Gillena, but am having trouble commenting on your site for some reason.
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ty
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Yeah the defenestration image hit me, too. Never heard of Kharms, so thanks for the background. Awesome work.
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I has so many images that I like. The Facebook cell. People raining out of windows like cat’s and dogs. Chilling and thought provoking.
Thanks for introducing me to Daniil Kharms, never heard of him before.
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Fun. I adore an opportunity to read modern absurdist work, and I found the modern allusions nicely grounded for what I originally expected. Excellent subversion of the prompt.
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Dora, thank you for making me aware of Mr. Daniil Kharms. Nobody should ever have to die like that. It hurts my heart to think of him and his end.
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Lisa,
You’re welcome. He’s like a shorthand Kafka. Something about his tales – circumlocutive & nonsensical though they seem – strikes a chord in these troubled times, when speech can be suppressed, people “cancelled.”
pax,
dora
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This is great, Dora!
“Fell out of Windows”… Wow. What a great ‘play’ on words.
I write nothing on Twitter every single day. That platform is insane.
On Facebook, I have an extremely small collection of ‘friends’ because ‘sheep’ are everywhere.
Peace,
Susan
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Susan,
Wait till you see my next post, my friend. Thank God there’s no shortage of metaphors to describe society these days.
pax,
dora
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Cool! It’s a comedy/tragedy that just keeps on giving. 😉
I look forward to it!
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Darkly evocative. An interresting read.
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A very cool piece. Loved it.
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So chilling and haunting, Dora. I’d invite the rats in at this point. We are beyond doomed as society; humanity, however? That remains to be seen. I’m reaching for the optimistic view that we can change, but who knows.
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Lucy,
I’m with you on that. There’s room for optimism and hope, certainly on eternity’s scale, by God’s grace.
pax,
dora
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What an interesting take o the prompt, Dora. I had not heard of him before. Very tragic the way he died. Makes you wonder how many more like that are on the edge waiting!
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Dwight,
Has there been any time in the history of the world, or America, for that matter, when we haven’t had political prisoners? Now more than ever, I expect, since the internet has made surveillance and censorship easier.
pax,
dora
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This is powerful. The world is in chaos!
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Loved your poem, brilliant take, Dora. Never heard of the author though, thanks for introducing. Thanks to Bjorn too, for your poetry interpretation.
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A searing commentary on the times we live in! So many of Kharms’ ilk imprisoned all over the world.
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DANG. It rolls with such impact and the ending is a bang.
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Wow. First of all, I’d never heard of him – thank you for educating me! Also – this is such a perfect poetic tribute for who he was – so well done, Dora!
❤
David
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This knocks the breath right out of you.
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A wonderfully written, dark poem. Such is reality. Well done!
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Wow! Intense write. Well done.
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I hadn’t heard of Kharms! So powerful, censorship irks me more and more, we must have free media!
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Tricia,
Funny how history repeats itself. I’m sure Kharms felt absurdism was a way of eluding the censors until he was finally “disappeared.” Now we have the Babylon Bee, whose absurdism rings just as true, if not poetically.
pax,
dora
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Yes, when too many people are influenced, even if it’s just satire, it will become a target. I hate to see America go down that path of censoring what they deem to be dangerous.
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It feels like we’re headed towards a government by an oligarchy and a nation not of citizens and laws but serfs and edicts.
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I’ve actually heard we will have a “technocracy” controlled by elite technocrats. With people like Gates and Zuckerberg having so much power I think it could be true. They need to be reigned in!
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Agreed. I’m trying not to be cynical all the while.
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What 21st Century poem!
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I only wish the 21st c. were as harmlessly absurd as an absurdist poem!
pax,
dora
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Agreed!
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This is incredibly potent! I especially like; “in the cell on Facebook padlocked.”💝
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