#metaphor — Public Fediverse posts

Driving at night:

"The dippers, the gods, and warriors all flickering about the ambiguous emoji of the moon." —Lorrie Moore 🌔

#metaphor #moon #emoji #writing

This Mined Mind of Mine

This mind of mine
is a mine
mined with mines,

bombs bombing
balmy balms,

static coms,
erratic ROMs,

a spinning sinning din of
fractured psalms.

Soul soloing
solely on wounded soles,

moldy moles
modifying holes,

digging shrews,
rigging news,

a sonic bubonic tonic of
the unamused.

Eye on the I,
I’d hide from I,
why try,

eye, I,
open wide,

what’s inside,
now out,
look about,

shouting shout,
spouting sprouts,

broken limbs,
token Sims,

a brimming skimming hymn of
the grim.

Blinding binds,
blinds behind signs,

warped windows,
skin grows,

transparent parent
gelling jellos,

a churning yearning turning of
buried cellos.

Nerve serving curve
of the mortal swerve,

a word herd stirred,
a buried blurred bird,

sudden flight,
sodden fright,

a scattered battered bat of
the tattered night.

Hands in the sand,
unplanned manned strands
of what once was grand,

keeps collapse,
seeps relapse,

in the laps of
the lambasted land,

vain veins
veined in clay,

waiting gray,
weighty water
washing away,

a dim lit hymn-bit limb of
decay.

Still—

slurping krill,
burping bill,

Be still,
be still,

not my will,
but thine,

new wine,
do dine,

demining
this mined heart of mine,

never mine,
ever kind,

sever the binding line,

and I,
eye,

am no longer
blind.

If you ask the grass, the zebra is the monster and the lion is the protector.

#perspective #philosophy #value #life #analogy #metaphor

The Silver Strand

returning 
to the car 
i see
a silver strand 
intent on 
capturing me
 
i was gone 
but a moment 
yet the spider 
did spin
from the mirror 
across the window 
to lure 
me in
 
it seems 
this small one 
dreams of 
bigger prey
so too I 
if to my path 
I stay

this bit 
of web 
is a 
flimsy thing
but if 
I cast 
it not
i snare 
nothing

July 2, 2016

Fascinating, wide ranging (long) interview with Dr. Sledge, Internet historian and academic investigator of ancient texts on the uncensored history of our quest for meaning and what we can do about this moment's "meaning famine". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOEp7L2hi9g #Philosophy #OccultStudies #Religion #Mythology #Metaphor #MeaningFamine #ESOTERICA

Broken Chair

I rescued the chair from outside someone’s apartment with the hope of fixing it and having it become a welcome member of our family.

But, as often happens, it sat around in various places waiting for me to find the time to repair it.

Finally, I decided it was one more project I did not have time for, and so yesterday I put it out on the sidewalk in the hopes that someone would take it home.

It sat out there all through yesterday in the rain and the sun, lonely, awaiting a new friend. A few people paused to look but then drove away. Periodically I would look out my window to see it still sitting forlornly there.

Then this morning I noticed an older gentleman walking past who began to inspect the chair. He picked it up, put it on his back and walked away.

It is a beautiful chair. It just needs to be repaired, and I am sure its new owner will do just that.

I don’t know about you, but I feel a lot like that broken chair, waiting for the gentle hands of someone to put me back together again.

I wait, broken, with the hope that those hands will touch me, I will be healed, and I can have a purpose again.

July 10, 2015

Vincent, or: Theo

A Sijo

EPIGRAPH:

You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter you can’t do anything.

–Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)

the life we painted—over;
blank linen upon my easel;
this choice feels almost sacred;
one false first stroke would skew my course;
still, memory steadies my hand;
old lessons guide the brush I raise

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

Relieving song, or: Rising steam

A Sijo

my pot begins to murmur
beneath its plain, faithful cap;
every heartbeat finds less room
inside the thick, waiting steel;
then comes the valve's relieving song
each stanza lifts with rising steam

d’Verse: Ars poetica revisited

At d’Verse, we are encouraged to write an Ars Poetica that reveals our relationship with poetry through imagery, symbolism, or personification, showing our writing process rather than simply explaining it.

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

✮ As Water ✮

Subscribe to keep reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

✮ As Water ✮

Subscribe to keep reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

✮ As Water ✮

Subscribe to keep reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

„One Foot Out“ (March 2026)
Photo ©️ Dietmar Bachmann
📍Zurich, Switzerland

#monochromemarch #monochrome #monochromemonday #zurich #switzerland #streetphotography #street #car #woman #foot #metaphor #bnw #photo #bnwphotography #photography #streetphoto #blackandwhite #moment #catchthemoment #Hasselblad #midformat #Schweiz #mittelformat #strasse #auto #frau #fuss #metapher #foto #monochrom #schwarzweissfotografie #fotografie #schwarzweiss

Is all language metaphor? 🧐

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/04/when-everything-is-metaphor-nothing-is/?utm_source=masto

I posted this last night. A follower chimed in. His speciality is anthropology.

Philippe Descola’s framework in Beyond Nature and Culture outlines four ontological regimes:

• Naturalism (the modern Western default)
• Animism
• Totemism
• Analogism

#philosophy #psychology #anthropology #cognitivescience #cognition #worldview #ontology #grammar #metaphor #Lakoff #Wittgenstein #languagegames #blog #podcast #anthropology

Is all language metaphor? 🧐

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/04/when-everything-is-metaphor-nothing-is/?utm_source=masto

I posted this last night. A follower chimed in. His speciality is anthropology.

Philippe Descola’s framework in Beyond Nature and Culture outlines four ontological regimes:

• Naturalism (the modern Western default)
• Animism
• Totemism
• Analogism

#philosophy #psychology #anthropology #cognitivescience #cognition #worldview #ontology #grammar #metaphor #Lakoff #Wittgenstein #languagegames #blog #podcast #anthropology

Is all language metaphor? 🧐

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/04/when-everything-is-metaphor-nothing-is/?utm_source=masto

I posted this last night. A follower chimed in. His speciality is anthropology.

Philippe Descola’s framework in Beyond Nature and Culture outlines four ontological regimes:

• Naturalism (the modern Western default)
• Animism
• Totemism
• Analogism

#philosophy #psychology #anthropology #cognitivescience #cognition #worldview #ontology #grammar #metaphor #Lakoff #Wittgenstein #languagegames #blog #podcast #anthropology

Is all language metaphor? 🧐

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/04/when-everything-is-metaphor-nothing-is/?utm_source=masto

I posted this last night. A follower chimed in. His speciality is anthropology.

Philippe Descola’s framework in Beyond Nature and Culture outlines four ontological regimes:

• Naturalism (the modern Western default)
• Animism
• Totemism
• Analogism

#philosophy #psychology #anthropology #cognitivescience #cognition #worldview #ontology #grammar #metaphor #Lakoff #Wittgenstein #languagegames #blog #podcast #anthropology

Is all language metaphor? 🧐

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/04/when-everything-is-metaphor-nothing-is/?utm_source=masto

I posted this last night. A follower chimed in. His speciality is anthropology.

Philippe Descola’s framework in Beyond Nature and Culture outlines four ontological regimes:

• Naturalism (the modern Western default)
• Animism
• Totemism
• Analogism

#philosophy #psychology #anthropology #cognitivescience #cognition #worldview #ontology #grammar #metaphor #Lakoff #Wittgenstein #languagegames #blog #podcast #anthropology

Wahrheit oder Illusion
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/wahrheit-oder-ilussion

#Philosophie #Sprache #Erkenntnis #Selbstreflexion #Innenwelt #Metapher

Truth or Illusion
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/truth-or-illusion

#Philosophy #Language #Insight #SelfReflection #InnerWorld #Metaphor

Wo das Meer trägt und widerspricht – Über Hyperkomplettheit und die Grenzen ontologischer Kohärenz
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/wo-das-meer-tragt-und-widerspricht

#Philosophie #Wissenschaft #Sprache #Erkenntnis #Metapher #Ontologie

Where the Sea Carries and Contradicts – On Hypercompleteness and the Limits of Ontological Coherence
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/where-the-sea-carries-and-contradicts

#Philosophy #Science #Language #Knowledge #Metaphor #Ontology

Ein Text über Spiegel und Spiegelungen ohne Punkt und ohne Abschluss als ruhige Meta-Ebene
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/spiegel

#Philosophie #Literatur #Erzählung #Selbstreflexion #Metapher #Sprache #Humor

A text about mirrors and reflections without full stops and without closure as a quiet meta level
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/mirror

#Philosophy #Literature #Fiction #SelfReflection #Metaphor #Language #Humour

Ein Text über das paradoxe Lesen von Menschen wie fehlerhafte Systeme – und die leise Rückkehr der Menschlichkeit.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/menschlichkeit-wie-datenmull-ausliest

#Philosophie #Psychologie #Innenwelt #Selbstreflexion #Sprache #KI #Metapher #Fragmentierung

A reflection on reading humans like faulty systems – and the quiet persistence of humanity beneath the code.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/humanity-parsed-like-waste-data

#Philosophy #Psychology #InnerWorld #SelfReflection #Language #AI #Metaphor #Fragmentation

Ein Text über Depression als Freizeitpark der gedämpften Farben – ein Bild, das sich leise entfaltet und tief trifft.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/freizeitpark

#Philosophie #Psychologie #Wohlbefinden #Gesundheit #Innenwelt #Selbstreflexion #Metapher #Sprache #Erzählung

A piece portraying depression as a theme park muted by fog – a quiet, resonant image of inner perception.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/theme-park

#Philosophy #Psychology #Wellness #Health #InnerWorld #SelfReflection #Metaphor #Language #Storytelling

Ein Text über das Denken als Prozess ohne Endzustand – eine Schleife, die nicht gefangen hält, sondern lebendig macht.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/funktion

#Philosophie #Psychologie #Sprache #Selbstreflexion #Innenwelt #Metapher

A reflection on thinking as an endless loop – not a trap, but a living process of continual questioning.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/function

#Philosophy #Psychology #Language #SelfReflection #InnerWorld #Metaphor

Ein Blick in den inneren Nachrichtensender – ein ganzes Studio aus Rollen, Ritualen und kulturellen Mustern, das plötzlich sichtbar wird.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/mein-eigener-fernsehsender

#Philosophie #Innenwelt #Identität #Kultur #Metapher #Selbstreflexion

A glimpse into the inner broadcasting studio – a full newsroom of roles, rituals and cultural frames suddenly revealed.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/my-own-television-channel

#Philosophy #InnerWorld #Identity #Culture #Metaphor #SelfReflection

Ein Text wie ein Feuerball: keine Buffets, keine Ausreden – nur direkter Kontakt mit dem eigenen Spiegelbild.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/texte-aus-dem-giftschrank-feuerball

#Philosophie #Literatur #Erzählung #Psychologie #Selbstreflexion #Sprache #Metapher

A text like a fireball: no buffers, no detours – only unfiltered contact with your own reflection.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/texts-from-the-poison-cabinet-fireball

#Philosophy #Literature #Fiction #Psychology #SelfReflection #Language #Metaphor

Texte, die sich falsch anfühlen dürfen – und genau deshalb nötig sind.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/texte-aus-dem-giftschrank

#Philosophie #Literatur #Sprache #Selbstreflexion #Innenwelt #Metapher #Erkenntnis #Psychologie

Texts that feel wrong on purpose – and reveal something in the stumble.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/texts-from-the-poison-cabinet

#Philosophy #Literature #Language #SelfReflection #InnerWorld #Metaphor #Insight #Psychology

Ein kurzer Blick an die Kante des Denkens – dort, wo Logik endet und Eigenlogik beginnt.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/blinde-flecken

#Philosophie #Psychologie #Innenwelt #Sprache #Erkenntnis #Metapher

A brief look at the edge of thought – where logic ends and inner logic takes over.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/blind-spots

#Philosophy #Psychology #InnerWorld #Language #Insight #Metaphor

Ein Traum über genehmigten Widerstand und ein Spiegelbild, das nur noch ein Auge hat.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/nur-ein-traum-unmoglich

#Literatur #Philosophie #Innenwelt #Metapher #Freiheit #Gesellschaft

A dream of authorised resistance and a mirror-self with only one eye left.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/only-a-dream-impossible

#Literature #Philosophy #InnerWorld #Metaphor #Freedom #Society

Ein Text über Metaphern als ererbte Schutzmechanik – und darüber, wie Trauma sich in Sprache verwandelt, wenn direkte Worte fehlen.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/das-ererbte-ubersetzen-generationstrauma

#Philosophie #Literatur #Psychologie #Identität #Gesellschaft #Metapher #Integrität

A reflection on metaphors as inherited survival tools – and how trauma becomes language when direct speech is impossible.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/the-inherited-act-of-translation

#Philosophy #Literature #Psychology #Identity #Society #Metaphor #Integrity

Ein Labor, ein Gänseblümchen und zwei Membranen als Denkwerkzeug.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/das-labor-mit-dem-ganseblumchen

#Philosophie #Innenwelt #Sprache #Metapher #Selbstreflexion

A laboratory, a daisy, and two membranes as a method of thinking.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/the-laboratory-with-the-little-daisy

#Philosophy #InnerWorld #Language #Metaphor #SelfReflection

Ein Reim über Suchanfragen, digitale Spuren und ein Einhorn, das durchs Datengelände schaut.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/ein-suchmaschinen-crawler-reim
#Literatur #Philosophie #Sprache #Metapher #Gesellschaft
A poem about search queries, digital currents, and an Einhorn watching from the margins.
👉 https://whisper7.substack.com/p/a-search-engine-crawler-rhyme
#Literature #Philosophy #Language #Metaphor #Society

Western liberals: "Capitalism is not the problem. The problem is crony capitalism. What we need is 'real' and 'fair' capitalism where large corporations don't have so much of the market share."
'Yeah, bruh! Cancer is not the problem. The problem is stage 4 cancer. What we need is stage 2 cancer.'

#liberals #neoliberalism #cancer #capitalism #politics #economics #analogy #metaphor #fairness #marketshare #markets #aspiration #perspective #psychology #humannature #huimancondition #philosophy

tech in a bottle

#MacroPhotographyStyle #CircuitBoards #Bottles #Technology #Metaphor #Traditional #Encased #Img2Img #AiArt #AiaArtists #StableDiffusion

tech in a bottle

#MacroPhotographyStyle #CircuitBoards #Bottles #Technology #Metaphor #Traditional #Encased #Img2Img #AiArt #AiaArtists #StableDiffusion

tech in a bottle

#MacroPhotographyStyle #CircuitBoards #Bottles #Technology #Metaphor #Traditional #Encased #Img2Img #AiArt #AiaArtists #StableDiffusion

tech in a bottle

#MacroPhotographyStyle #CircuitBoards #Bottles #Technology #Metaphor #Traditional #Encased #Img2Img #AiArt #AiaArtists #StableDiffusion

tech in a bottle

#MacroPhotographyStyle #CircuitBoards #Bottles #Technology #Metaphor #Traditional #Encased #Img2Img #AiArt #AiaArtists #StableDiffusion

#Editorial | Fire Israel's Far Right

Sunday’s remark by Heritage Minister Amichai #Eliyahu (Otzma #Yehudit), who said that dropping a #nuclearbomb on the #GazaStrip is an option, is a problem not for #Israeli public diplomacy but rather for Israeli reality.

The problem is not any particular statement, but rather the power and legitimacy enjoyed today, in Israel as a whole and in the government, by the #Kahanist, messianic Jewish far right, which supports# annexation and #occupation and Jewish prayer on the #TempleMount, sees the current war as an opportunity and scorns the international community, international institutions and the laws of war.

This was not a slip of the tongue. In an interview with Radio Kol Barama, Eliyahu said that “there are no uninvolved [civilians]” in the Gaza Strip. Asked by his interviewer whether that meant Israel should drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip, he responded, “That’s one way.” And his subsequent “clarification” – “It is clear to anyone who is sensible that the nuclear remark was metaphorical” – is ridiculous. A #metaphor for what?

Nor is he a lone exception. Eliyahu’s party colleague, lawmaker Yitzhak #Kroizer, told Army Radio on Sunday that “the #Gaza Strip should be flattened, and there should be one sentence for everyone there – death. We have to wipe the Gaza Strip off the map. There are no innocents there.” Entire swaths of the government belong to the dangerous far right: Bezalel #Smotrich, Itamar Ben-#Gvir, Simcha #Rothman, Orit #Strock, Avi #Maoz, Zvi #Sukkot, Limor Son Har-#Melech and their confederates.

Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu’s response was lame. Eliyahu’s statement, he said, was “disconnected from reality,” and the minister will be barred from cabinet meetings until further notice. He ought to have fired Eliyahu, but he chose not to do so; he prioritized preserving his government over preserving Israel.

Netanyahu isn’t the solution, but the problem. He has legitimized Kahanism and the far right. During his years in power, Israel has grown more extreme, and people who used to be loathsome #pariahs are now senior cabinet #ministers. Ideas and values that used to be outside the consensus, such as “transferring” Arabs from Israel, a second #Nakba and Jewish prayer on the #TempleMount, have been normalized under Netanyahu’s irresponsible #leadership.

He is the one who lent legitimacy to political alliances with admirers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the mass murderer Baruch #Goldstein and the murderer of the #Dawabsheh family. Under his leadership, the settlers have begun setting their sights on the #WestBank’s Area B, which under the #Oslo Accords is under #Israeli security control and #Palestinian civilian control. And the settlers’ radical “hilltop youth” have moved from being intelligence targets of the Shin Bet security service to serving as ministers, #Knesset members, aides and advisers.

The far right’s membership in the government has painted the entire government, and all of #Israel, in far-right colors. The only way to solve the problem is to remove the far right from the government, and from the bounds of Israeli legitimacy. The only way to repudiate Eliyahu’s statement is to repudiate him and those like him. The Otzma Yehudit and Religious #Zionism parties must be fired from the #cabinet immediately.

The above article is Haaretz’s lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-11-06/ty-article/.premium/fire-israels-far-right/0000018b-a11c-dc0b-a1cb-e5de69890000

On the vogue #word “weaponize,” a #metaphor for the word “politicize,” and the birth of other words with the I Z E ending that changed them from #nouns to #verbs #language #rhetoric
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/15/overusing-word-weaponize/

Today's poem:

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
- by Alfred Lord Tennyson

https://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/716109018342506496/now-sleeps-the-crimson-petal?source=share

#poetry #danae #night #love #desire #AlfredLordTennyson #SexualAttraction #stillness #metaphor

And yet I still tell people, "She's really very sweet."

Of course, I have to because she's snarling at them like a 20 lb maniac.

When all the while, what would secretly make her happiest would be to have people, anybody, rub her belly.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere.

#dogs #balltap #snarling #fearofintimacy #metaphor