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Gaslighting Reality
Reality gaslights.
It cuts, bends,
romanticizes the wound,
sharpens the scream
until it fits a frame,
a screen,
my feed.
I live in a lying painting.
Cheated by a poem.
I feel emotions
staged by lyrics
of a made-up song,
like a true crime scene
meant to be suffered,
not solved.
Who needs purity in reality,
when precision performs better?
Feed me the fake thing,
bold enough
to aim for the open wound,
find the most fragile nerve
and press.
This lie
is the kind
you don’t mind
wrestling with
until it hurts
exactly
as designed.
©2026 Samia Oldman
CONTEXT
You are reading dystopian fantasy poetry collection the Hush Halo. After the Great Optimization a privileged group of people wired themselves tightly into the system by aligning with it and fully integrating. Systoics believe they’ve perfected themselves by stripping away everything that slows them down. Learn more about Realm or start from Square One.
Dystopian poetry by Sam Oldman. Soundscapes and images are created with AI.
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