4 Comments
User's avatar
Ausiàs Tsel's avatar

A lie detector calibrated for prose style. The idea that metaphor can be a form of cowardice is uncomfortable in the right way—especially for those of us who reach for beauty when we mean to reach for something else.

Vane's avatar

Yes! Exactly this.

The Sauna Writer's avatar

Well this one was super fun to read. I feel like I’m battered to death with semicolons and riddled with punctuation, but regardless, you capture the struggle to write exceptionally well here. Thanks for sharing!

Vane's avatar

Thank you! So glad to hear!

I experimented with turning the calmness of semicolons into panic. The voice wants to be clever and gets punished for it. The door is both instruction and trap. Mirrored: when my prose turns petaled and arranged, I choke.