{"id":143,"date":"2021-11-20T23:50:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T23:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/17-1\/?page_id=143"},"modified":"2021-12-04T15:52:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T15:52:23","slug":"ostracon-con-astra","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/ostracon-con-astra\/","title":{"rendered":"OSTRACON CON ASTRA"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jacob Fortino<\/h5>\n

few thoughts enter the mind at the ending of moments<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

iron, cold and sleek binds my legs and hands<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

new punishment future here<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

grinding, clashing raw<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

too loud for one man\u2019s ear<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

bellows-there\u2019s roaring in the lab<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the machine, a great beast awoken from its clockwork dream<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

another period of excruciating deafness<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ending in a piercing pulse<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

no more than a light breeze<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

invaded and shot through my cranium<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

an invisible beam.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next thing I know, a cerulean bleeding<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Concludes in a thick fog of scotch mist<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My head glides bodiless<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the monolithic flora of time\u00a0And\u00a0stops for nothing<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What pestilence overcomes someone<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To pierce my skull with protons<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I should thank these men<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this cut short cavalcade<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have never truly lived until now<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where death began the penalty lies absent<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For once I am seeing discourse between conflicting atoms<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The intimate covalent bonds<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An\u00a0adenoid approaches<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asking for its lover<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can feel myself pointing north<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet I am only a floating mind A metaphysical decapitation<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Desperately grasping at thoughts Losing track of time<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between the first and fourth eternity<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Did my body even exist when I was\u00a0alive<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alive-what can I call this If not living<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was rotting before this expiration<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I hear the supper conversation<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between two ions Nary even born yet<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bellowing returns<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two suns Circling in splendid debate<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They narrow their eyes at me<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLooking pretty rough, friend\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

beckons the florid sun<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through worse,\u201d I respond<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a transition to the expelling<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Repelling the full sail rift<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wholesale on the horizon<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spectating a\u00a0past\u00a0of a hundred selves<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Striding through the motions<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

like unending rehearsals to an opera combating amnesia<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

one big bang is irrelevant for I experience thousands<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

in the line of sight of this\u00a0ever procedural\u00a0code.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0am able to\u00a0reconstruct some life of the man who claimed to be myself<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No longer a man however, nor even a person<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But an optical sense on the very depths of dimension<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thrusting this grey matter vessel into richer fathoms<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A lifeboat being a luxury that bears no mass in these planes<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In one orb I see a childhood<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A young boy sits alone in a chapel, a captured structure\u00a0In\u00a0time<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Teeming with importance to him<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He however prays to no god<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can read his thoughts and memories with possibility of shared experience<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He prays to no god but a name<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201catatoz\u201d, he repeats it<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201catatoz\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This child tears a cross of ivory from his neck and tosses it<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The talisman traveling to the front of the congregation<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0sound echoes\u00a0but no heads present to turn<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He pulls a small geode from his pocket<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and throws it at the window of monochromatic stained glass<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the thrown geode creates a wound in the glass<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the clouds block any light wanting to enter and the child leaves<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the chapel and the orb with\u00a0it,\u00a0 morphing\u00a0becoming the castaway talisman<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

it approaches<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

why do I speak to the contorted talisman of cracked malformed\u00a0ivory<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

its cross withered away with the dust<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

convulsing into the creation of a polygonal iris\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

looking at me but unaware of the existence\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

one phrase\u00a0is able to\u00a0emanate from the optical maw<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

no fear, amalgam ostracon\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you have been given presence and a title following<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you have been designated ostracon\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An amalgamated stone from the terra Mediterranean\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Casted out like the name etched upon them\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like this stone you have been exiled from your home<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brought into these realms where no home has yet to be found<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor any foundation of the self of who you once were<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No bed to lie upon, ostracon<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Only the infinite movement into these deepening realms\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is your life now, ostracon<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But is there something hindering you?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I almost feel\u00a0asleep ,\u00a0needing to wake up and glide once more\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are going to make your way to the next dimension of transmission<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are going to need to hear beyond<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You will ride the signals and become operator in the dimensions\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My memory engorged itself\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

on the marrow of looping pasts and I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0help but feel full<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a large technicolored ear has appeared\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and connected itself to me\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

what follows is a spectrum of screeching\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

vibrating the fibers in the mondo drum within this luminous canal\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ceaselessly,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

these memories will remain unbothered awaiting their subjects\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to sift through their nostalgic ports, awaiting any resemblance\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of the self what was<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacob Fortino few thoughts enter the mind at the ending of moments\u00a0 iron, cold and sleek binds my legs and hands\u00a0 new punishment future here\u00a0 grinding, clashing raw\u00a0 too loud for one man\u2019s ear\u00a0 bellows-there\u2019s roaring in the lab\u00a0 the machine, a great beast awoken from its clockwork dream\u00a0 another period of excruciating deafness\u00a0 ending… <\/p>\n

Read more OSTRACON CON ASTRA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-143","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/143\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/17-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}