In this series, I will take the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com and craft a short piece of creative writing around it. My goal is to embrace the meaning of the word in some unique way, all the while trying out different styles, rhythms and characterizations. It is as much an exercise in creativity as it is an exploration of grammar. Enjoy!
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By Alex Seise
In meaning there is truth, or so it’s been written in mud and parchment and iron-rich blood. But what if meaning was less of a binary: no longer the right or the wrong, the yes or the no, the clear or the vague? What if meaning was not such a fixed, stony mortar and instead defined itself as the culmination of emotions and senses and circumstances and atmospherics, all in a twine-tied bouquet that wilted and perked with the introduction of time and other corporeal elements like water? That freedom, coupled with nuanced reactions and shifting beliefs; that would be blissfully honest and, by virtue, true. But on second thought, no, wouldn’t it just instead be verbicide, the slaughter of the meaning of meaning? For what is truth if truth means nothing but swaying in the breeze and moving to the music and dancing as a reaction? Truth is stoic, firm and independent; mustn’t meaning be the same?
