Poem: "The Purpose of Your Life"
Sep. 7th, 2019 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It was inspired by the "warning" square in my 8-2-19 card for the End of Summer Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. This poem belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some which are spoilers. It features Carl Bernhardt in prison, contemplating escape, and a warning of dire (unspecified) consequences should he leave. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"The Purpose of Your Life"
[Saturday, April 18, 2015]
Carl Bernhardt lay in
his supposedly secure cell,
contemplating ways to escape.
There was no shortage.
The guards were, after all,
merely ordinary men.
They were no match
for his superior intellect.
He was not expecting
the horse-faced woman
who stopped outside his cell.
Idly Carl wondered if she
would try to kill him.
Instead she said, "I'm
here to give you a warning:
stay put. As long as you're here,
you're safe. Negotiations have
given the legal system first rights
to your disposal. Leave, and
you become anyone's meat."
"What, I should just give up
the purpose of my life?"
Carl snapped back.
The woman gave him
a cold, razor-edged smile
and said, "It could be that
the purpose of your life is only
to serve as a warning to others."
Then she turned and walked away.
However she had gotten in here, she
must have gotten out the same way,
because no alarms went off.
She might not be ordinary,
but she was still no match
for someone of his capacity.
Carl went back to what he was doing.
* * *
Notes:
"It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others."
-- Ashleigh Brilliant
Super-Intelligence and Evil Genius tropes make it difficult for ordinary characters to constrain supervillains who are much smarter than they are.
Prison Escape Artist and Cardboard Prison are two more motifs common to superhero literature. It is difficult or impossible to imprison a supervillain who doesn't consent to stay there. The most effective method is, in fact, to make it reasonably bearable so that they will stay put. A complementary social force is that supervillains tend to regard breaking out of a civilized prison akin to welching on a bet; it damages the escapee's reputation. (Barbaric prisons don't count.) So there aren't as many escapes as typical of other settings, but still enough to raise the concern.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some which are spoilers. It features Carl Bernhardt in prison, contemplating escape, and a warning of dire (unspecified) consequences should he leave. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"The Purpose of Your Life"
[Saturday, April 18, 2015]
Carl Bernhardt lay in
his supposedly secure cell,
contemplating ways to escape.
There was no shortage.
The guards were, after all,
merely ordinary men.
They were no match
for his superior intellect.
He was not expecting
the horse-faced woman
who stopped outside his cell.
Idly Carl wondered if she
would try to kill him.
Instead she said, "I'm
here to give you a warning:
stay put. As long as you're here,
you're safe. Negotiations have
given the legal system first rights
to your disposal. Leave, and
you become anyone's meat."
"What, I should just give up
the purpose of my life?"
Carl snapped back.
The woman gave him
a cold, razor-edged smile
and said, "It could be that
the purpose of your life is only
to serve as a warning to others."
Then she turned and walked away.
However she had gotten in here, she
must have gotten out the same way,
because no alarms went off.
She might not be ordinary,
but she was still no match
for someone of his capacity.
Carl went back to what he was doing.
* * *
Notes:
"It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others."
-- Ashleigh Brilliant
Super-Intelligence and Evil Genius tropes make it difficult for ordinary characters to constrain supervillains who are much smarter than they are.
Prison Escape Artist and Cardboard Prison are two more motifs common to superhero literature. It is difficult or impossible to imprison a supervillain who doesn't consent to stay there. The most effective method is, in fact, to make it reasonably bearable so that they will stay put. A complementary social force is that supervillains tend to regard breaking out of a civilized prison akin to welching on a bet; it damages the escapee's reputation. (Barbaric prisons don't count.) So there aren't as many escapes as typical of other settings, but still enough to raise the concern.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-07 09:34 am (UTC)This ... person (rhymes with toxic algae bloom) ... *needs* to become an example pour encourager les autres.
Yes ...
Date: 2019-09-07 10:27 am (UTC)Also "Our principles require us to inform you that conventional authorities have been granted the first turn since they did catch you."
>> This ... person (rhymes with toxic algae bloom) ... *needs* to become an example pour encourager les autres. <<
Yes indeed. Feel free to prompt for that.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2019-09-07 01:14 pm (UTC)Though simple death is probably too good for him.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2019-09-07 08:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-08 02:24 am (UTC)"As a reminder to the next ten generations that some favours come at too high a price."
-- Vir Cotto
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-08 03:41 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2019-09-08 03:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-10 07:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-10 07:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-07 10:07 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-07 10:18 am (UTC)Why yes, yes he is. :D It took me a while to figure out how we could have our cake and eat it too.
>> and I'm sure there'll be more than enough people willing to punch it for him. <<
Of course, but some of them outrank the others. ;)
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-08 02:27 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-08 03:56 am (UTC)"Pea-night! Er, peanuts, this century."
"Pickle on a stick! Fresh live culture!"
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-09 11:41 pm (UTC)"Mini coats! Hold their coats for them!" (doll-size, memorial imprint on the back, some of them tied on stick dolls with pipe-cleaner arms and foam balls for heads)
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-10 12:44 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-10 07:21 pm (UTC)*clears throat*
Date: 2019-09-07 11:37 am (UTC)Re: *clears throat*
Date: 2019-09-07 08:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-07 05:30 pm (UTC)Unknown to Carl, but still known by many other people to bring the message.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-09-08 02:34 am (UTC)May the ending you've charted for this chap be echoed in L-America and _-Britain - may those who engage in torture and kidnapping and genocide and Gaiacide have time to pray to Mammon before the Abyss swallows them, every last man-jack of'em, ESPECIALLY the bosses.
Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-08 04:00 am (UTC)Yep.
>> He thinks he's smart enough to get away, <<
He is. They're just ordinary jail guards.
Sooner or later, though, some enterprising warden is going to post an ad for Super-Intellect guards to watch over Super-Intellect inmates. There has to be someone who'll take the job for the sheer challenge of it.
>> and therefore *should* be above justice. <<
He is about to find out otherwise.
>> May the ending you've charted for this chap be echoed in L-America and _-Britain - may those who engage in torture and kidnapping and genocide and Gaiacide have time to pray to Mammon before the Abyss swallows them, every last man-jack of'em, ESPECIALLY the bosses.<<
Regrettably, it requires resources not available locally. :( But I appreciate the sentiment.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-08 04:10 pm (UTC)You hear maniacal laughter in the distance. --more--
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-09 01:33 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-09-10 07:23 pm (UTC)The audience awaits.
Date: 2019-09-08 02:54 am (UTC)C'mon, fishie ... leave your little pond and take a dip in the ocean ...
Re: The audience awaits.
Date: 2019-09-08 04:15 pm (UTC)blurred pretty bad between the frying pan and the
fiiii-i-i-iiiire o/~
( SJ Tucker )
Homebody has NO IDEA where that line is...
Re: The audience awaits.
Date: 2019-09-08 04:18 pm (UTC)Oh he's very, very smart. Ask him, he'll tell you. I'm sure he'll figure it out with sufficient data and time to draw a well-researched conclusion.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-11 05:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-05-29 03:36 pm (UTC)CHARLIE'S GOING HOME, CHARLIE'S GOING HOME, CHARLIE'S GOING HOME!
Continuing onto the next poem :)
~Angel
Yes ...
Date: 2020-05-29 10:53 pm (UTC)But if any of the culprits leave the rule of law, well, there are other options. :D