233: Searching for "Gods"

The trick to find GIFs in your app of choice

is to shorten the sentiment down to a word

it's a trick we learn

when looking through archives and online

databases

keep it short, keep it sweet

make it contained.

[20:03] So are you implying that uni has taught you how to find gods effectively?

[20:03] *gifs

But the mechanism is the same, isn't it?

Get down on your knees and fold your hands

specify your search phrase, bring it down to a word

and you'll find your Gods lurking where you least expect

between the pages of Nietzsche and Baudrillard

(this life as you live it now, you will live it again and again)

or in the corner of the bar

(the system collapses beneath the excess of reality)

sometimes in the mouldy cheese you forgot after Christmas

sometimes between the motes of dust under your bed.

You never know with Gods. They're fickle.

Like GIFs.

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Written by: Katrine Hjulstad

Instagram: @katrinehjulstad

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Note: Line 15 is an adaptation of a frequently-quoted passage from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), starting with, 'What if a demon crept after you one day or night in your loneliest solitude and said to you: "This life, as you live it now and have lived it, you will have to live again and again [...]"' (as quoted in Laurence Coupe, Myth [London, Routledge: 2009], 47–48).

Line 17 is an adapted line from the essay 'The Spirit of Terrorism' by the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007): 'It is the tactic of the terrorist model to bring about an excess of reality, and have the system collapse beneath that excess of reality' (The Spirit of Terrorism and Other Essays, trans. Chris Turner [London, Verso: 2003], 18).

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Publisher's note: All poetry published with Eudaemonia Records has been viewed and commented on by our editors. Ultimately, however, we believe that it is the writer's decision to accept or reject any suggestions made by the editors, and therefore take no responsibility for the final product.