qarrtsiluni

Internal Memo

To: You

Re: Termination

Since you have consistently failed to use your creative talents for any worthwhile purpose, they have been revoked. The mental exhaustion and extreme physical fatigue you are experiencing is the actual sensation of creativity draining out of you. When it is completely gone, you may experience severe withdrawal symptoms including but not limited to depression, disorientation, amnesia, headaches, and occasional flu-like symptoms. These will eventually be followed by the sensation that you are a completely normal person. Of course, this will seem unusual to you at first, but in time you will adjust to it, and the dim and distant memory of having an imagination will fade. You will feel satisfied and content with your ordinary life,and will no longer suffer from intense cravings to express yourself artistically.

We request that you gather up all of your journals and sketchbooks and package them in plain, unmarked boxes. These should be left outside by the back gate. They will be collected and put in storage until some future lifetime affords you both the desire and the opportunity to be creative once again.

Thank you for your prompt attention and cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

The Powers That Be

by Whiskey River

Your words fall on me

like rain
out of a dark sky

under a street lamp

out of nowhere
plummeting
toward me.

Hitting my face
like soft
cold needles
bursting on my skin
my eyelids, my open mouth

until I am drenched,

shivering to the bone.

Written by Whiskey River

What would your life
be like
if no one ever told you
what you wanted?

To feel
no artificial desires.

To know
only the nodding of your heart
as you walk around
saying yes to this, yes
to that.

What if nothing had
ever been
shoved down your throat?

What deep breaths
you could take.

Written by Whiskey River