.
Hypnosis
Come over here, then, and sit in this chair,
Gaze at this candle-flame, empty your mind,
No need to worry, no need to beware—
I am so patient, so caring and kind.
Gaze at this candle-flame, empty your mind
Watch the flame flicker entrancing your soul,
I am so patient, so caring and kind:
You will obey me now, I’m in control.
Watch the flame flicker, entrancing your soul:
No need to worry, no need to beware.
You will obey me, now I’m in control—
Come over here then and sit in this chair.
.
.
Judy Koren, from Haifa, Israel, has a degree in English literature and spent most of her career as a freelance information analyst. Her poems have appeared in literary magazines in Israel and abroad, including The Deronda Review, the Voices Israel Anthology, Better Than Starbucks; Blue Unicorn; Grand Little Things; Lighten Up Online; The Orchards Poetry Journal; The Road Not Taken and The Taj Mahal Review. She is currently President of the Israeli English-language poetry society, Voices Israel.
Yet another chilling description of the world we live in and our malevolent, Mesmerizing powers that be.
Very well done.
Charles Poyen, who first introduced Mesmerism to the United States in the 1830s, was open about its potential to govern the masses. As Clare Coffey writes in a review of a book about the subject, Poyen “proposed that credulity could be used in controlling America’s burgeoning factory worker population.”
Today, with a totally partisan Mainstream Media, mega-corporate censorship, a largely leftist academia, and Orwellian Groupthink, they’ve gone far beyond hypnotism.
All of this is a way to keep despised subject populations under the boot of a self-appointed meritocratic elite.
Good and creepy, Ms Koren.
A question that’s ever enduring
Where mass management is the goal:
Why is this so much more alluring
Than summoning some self-control?
I’m not quite sure why, but I loved this venture into fluid metrics. But for one thing, The initial “Come over … and sit in this chair” was creepy enough, but the repetition of the sentence in the final line sealed the deal. This was a very well put together poem, and as a contributor to The Deronda Review, you must already know how exacting the editors there are.
I’m sure I can see that candle.
The Mesmerising power of poetry.
Judy, I love a pantoum, and the subject matter fits the form perfectly… and you’ve pulled it off magnificently. Thank you!