Fragmented Hunger: When Syntax Craves
What happens when language breaks under hunger's weight? Does the ache grow stronger, or does it fade, folding in on itself?
1. First Bite
Hunger can undo quiet desire, much like a craving that sparks ruin. It's this idea of fragmentation that lies at the heart of the question: Can sensation not only outlast the slip of language, but heighten the experience of syntactical ruin?
To explore this, we’ll splinter a piece of lyrical, evocative text into staccato-like fragments, using their edges to carve a path through the void left behind. The sensation we’re navigating is hunger, but both its intensity and nature are open to interpretation.
Whether we’re left with the raw feeling of starvation, longing, or something adjacent—like an unspoken pain—remains to be seen. The only true aim is to strip sensation of its verbose armour, making it read like a memory dissolving in real time.
We want the lines to break and curl in on themselves, with progression through experience becoming inevitable. It’s important to note that discomfort and unease often accompany moments of claustrophobic certainty.
2. The Feast
The excerpt above is from The Soil Speaks of the Woman and the Serpent by vorphie. The story is available to read for free through the provided link, along with the author's other works.
3. Famine
Upon me—warmth. Her skin.
She did not yet know.
Longing. Absence.
(Ache.)
Breathless—she rose.
Petals. Feet. Pressing.
Into my soil. Where she walked,
humming ground.
The beasts. The trees.
She was unlike—
(Whole.)
She was unburdened—
(Desire.)
She was untouched—
(Hunger.)
Not—until broken.
Not—until named.
She walks now.
Brushing against the roots. Her innocence.
Her eyes. Golden. Fruit—heavy.
Not the fruit.
Not the fruit.
A shadow. Dark as the spaces—
Forbidden.
Not to the beasts. Parched.
(A voice.)
It slithers. The cracks—through the—
Velvet. It moves.
Over silk. Hush.
(A blade.)
Not as men do.
(My love—)
Between heartbeats. Hush.
(Trembling.)
Between breaths. Twitch.
Empty.
(Aching.)
Her sides—hush.
Her fingers—twitch.
Stillness—between her—
Have you ever known hunger?
Emotion Meter
How did the text make you feel, emotionally or physically? Was it different from your reaction to the original?
4. Aftertaste
Next, we're diving into lexical mutation—a process as daring as it sounds. It's the art of distorting, stretching, and unmaking language, bending it into something raw, fevered, and new. To achieve this, we need to toy with word formation, compression, elongation, erasure, and sound.
Essentially, this is about mutation in its purest form: a breaking, a rebuilding, an intensification. It's an attempt to convey the sort of fever that renders language inadequate. Here, the goal is to embody hunger's consuming nature, particularly its power to warp, distort, and unmake the mind. Hunger demands the invention of a language fit for it.
The end result should feel primal, raw, and fragmented, setting a hypnotic rhythm that twists perception until hunger is no longer something you feel; it's something that seeks you, starved and lingering.
At its core, lexical mutation is a surrender. A reversal of autonomy.
Taint
Upon me—w a r m t h. Her s k i n.
She did not yet knooow.
Longing—hungrysweet. Absence.
(Ach e.)
Breathnumb—she rose. Petals.
Feet. Pressing. Into my—
soil—footcrush. Where she walk'd,
humminggroan ground.
The beast-s. The tree-s.
She was unlike—
(Whole.)
She was unburdened—
(Desire.)
She was untouched—
(Starvefrayed.)
Not—until brok'n.
Not—until naymd.
She runsstill now.
Brushing against the root-s. Her silk-in.
Her eyes. Amberhard. Fruit—fleshheavy.
Not the fruit.
Not the froot.
A shadow—darkling through space-s—
Forbidden forbidden forbidden.
Not to the beast-s—
Thirst—wasted.
(A voice.)
It sli t h e r s ss. The cracks—through the—
Velvet-rough. It moves.
Over silk.
(A blade—whispercut.)
Liks.
(A blade—wet with hush.)
Not as men—do.
(My love—)
Between heartbeats—hush-drift.
(Trembl'ng.)
Between breaths—twitch-drag.
Emptyfull.
(Ach'ng)
hersides/
hushdrift/
herfingers/twitchdrag/
stillness—between her—
Has hunger ever known you?
