Poetry Update · About Decency · Jul 15, 2026

Latest in Dystopian Poetry · Hush Halo by Sam Oldman

Jul 15, 2026

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In this post:
#1 Writer’s Update
#2 Dystopian Poetry
#3 Color Me Weird
#4 Writers Worth SubStalking + Thanks

#1 Writer’s Update

I’m still holding back on the new Hush Halo material for a little while longer. I’ve been working on the next arc whenever I get a burst of energy. This upcoming arc will drain me before it fills my cup again.

Flip Flopping My Summer Away

I severely injured my ankle on a family trip. We had rented a beautiful cabin by the lake and had arrived the previous night. On the very first morning, my slipper did what it does best, slipped out from under my foot, and I came down with my full weight on a twisted ankle.

This was the first time I’ve ever seriously injured myself, and it’s been exhausting to adjust to a disabled life. It’s not just the injury. I feel like my thoughts have turned to mush.

I know it’s only temporary, but it has truly opened my eyes to appreciate my body on a whole new level. It’s been three weeks already, and it will take another three before I’m out of this wheelchair.

Not the summer I had planned, but I’m well past the pissed-off stage.

A Decent Side Quest

It wouldn’t be me if I weren’t chasing new ideas and side projects. For the past several weeks I’ve been working on an article series that has nothing to do with poetry.

I came across a deep sense of decency and character that completely grabbed my attention. It made me study deeper why decency feels so rare today and why we’ve grown numb to indecency.

I’m planning to publish the series once summer cools down. I write this to writers who are tired of writing villains as heroes.

Related: The Haaland Effect

Since my focus is on decency now, I wrote a related on note last week you may have missed:

…this Haaland effect definitely caught my eye. Why is he everywhere right now?

In the midst of the manosphere and all the other nonsense we’re facing, I’m happy to spot decency anywhere. Even if, and especially when it comes in the form of a 25-year-old viking boyo.

Why? As the mother of two boyos, I feel we need to pay close attention to positive role models whenever, where ever we can find them. There are plenty of great examples. They just don’t make the headlines very often.

Maybe the best way to fight indecency is an overwhelming amount of actual decency. Share it. Embrace the shit out of it.

I’m still not a great fan of football at the elite level, but I’m a big fan of old-fashioned decency.

Read the full note.

#2 Dystopian Poetry

I have plenty of unpublished material from Hush Halo’s first arc that I want to share with you. Let me know how you feel about these three poems below.

“What stayed with me most is the distinction between what can be saved and what actually makes a life lived. ”
- Antonio Castellaneta

Found Missing

0:00

-1:32

I disappear without ever leaving the premises.
My body moves through familiar spaces.
Systems recognize me,
confirm continuity,
verify identity.
I remain here documented,
in a witnessless timeline.
Functional,
yet unable to fully explain what happens
once someone irreplaceable to me slips out
but no one keeps looking.
That someone being me.
I am the unstable variable,
replaying recent events,
searching for exit points,
the exact instant
I somehow failed
to follow through.
A sign replaces the exit:
Smooth transitions only.
Smooth enough for reality to behave again tomorrow,
though my perception of it doesn’t.
It is like walking through a place
reconstructed from memory
by someone
who never actually lived there.
My sense of arrival fails to load.
It’s like returning to a scene
without understanding the crime
you were a victim of.
The status remaining “found”
means nothing to me,
who isn’t really there,
but still waiting
for an off-record revival.
As I watch this version of me
walk through the longest corridor,
I wonder when I stopped being real.
Should I celebrate
being found missing?

#S2020

Their Ordure

0:00

-0:26

They put on hold
my desire to sleep.
They forced the lid
on my need to scream.
Tempting me.
Gently pulling me off my center,
without dragging me forward,
without risking disorder,
by bullying me
into becoming a believer,
made me their ordure.

#S2030

Ritual of Divine Doom

0:00

-0:34

The ritual looks familiar.
Why do I feel I’ve done this before?
They lower me gently
with calm hands,
ambient hums
and mending metaphors.
Formless assurance surrounds me
like water that doesn’t bless
but recalibrates.
A compromising ritual
designed to wash away resistance
while filing the useful sins.
Divine doom
disguised as renewal.

#S2017

©Samia Oldman

#3 Color Me Weird

I know I’m too old for this shit, but in the name of weird, I’ll admit I have a crush on a fictional character. Yeah… I seriously thought I’d outgrown these episodes. Apparently not.

The silver lining here is, that I’ve managed to separate the character from the actor, whom I actually dislike. It also gives me a weirdly strong motivation to study character building.

I’ll spare you the details, just wanted to share my weird. These days, I’ll take the dopamine wherever I can get it.

Tell me I’m not alone with my weird!

#4 Writers Worth SubStalking

I have made some cool findings here on Substack. I’d love you to check these out:

Todd Webb publishes a poet-friendly daily comic strip called The Poet.
April Gough 🦄 makes the world better place by writing lovely everyday poetry like this: Someday You’ll Miss The Mess.
Estee Zales writes about creativity and illustrates her articles with wonderful art. Start here: How to Survive Your Own Creative Metamorphosis.
Canary Vale writes lyrics and occationally shares a sing along in a her car. Her range is wide, this is one of my favourites: Ms. Chernobyl.

Special Thanks ♡

Dystopian poetry is not the easiest art to spread around. Special thanks to Richard DeWald, Mark Crutchfield, Alicia, Franky Dyson, Cassani_Jones, Fragments and the Dark and everyone who has subscribed, dropped a comment or shared my posts recently. I’ll do my best to pay it back or pay it forward.

I’m daily floored by you all. ♡

WHAT IS HUSH HALO?
Hush Halo is a dystopian sci-fi poetry collection set in a near-future shaped by technology, silence, and optimized perfection. Each poem is paired with a unique soundscape created by poet, in Suno. Learn more in Square One.

Context: After the Great Optimization, a privileged group integrated into the system, believing they had now perfected themselves.

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