HUSH HALO is a dystopian sci-fi poetry collection set in a near-future, shaped by technology and irreversible choice. Each poem is paired with a unique soundscape in both digital format and in printed books.
CONTEXT: After the Great Optimization we all had a choice. This poem below tells a story of Systoics, a privileged group that integrated into the system, believing they had now perfected themselves.
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Educated Into Lack
Hush Halo · Poetry by Sam Oldman
I only know a place
that confused hunger with virtue
and called it growth.Hunger sharpened my focus,
kept me moving,
compliant.It made me easy to direct
as I was always reaching,
never arriving.Over time,
I stopped asking
what I was hungry for.The wanting became ambient,
hovering over my body,
no outcome could ever satisfy.Fed on hollow futures
until my gums bled.Fasting
until the machines flop
and hunger finally stops.I felt trained
rather than deprived.Educated into lack,
prepared to struggle out of balance,
to survive on nutrient poor
promises alone.
©2026 Sam Oldman
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It fascinates me how your system turns hunger into virtue until people mistake their own deprivation for personal growth. I'm exploring a similar mechanism in Beneath the Weight of Water, where Lucia has been taught that sacrifice, obedience, and suffering make her a good daughter. The most insidious forms of control don't always require force. Sometimes they succeed because people have been taught to take pride in their own subordination.
No more surviving on crumbs.