Reeling and Syntactic Ambiguity

Reel definition(s)

-> lose one's balance and stagger or lurch violently.

-> to pull in (a fish that is caught on a hook on the end of a fishing line) by turning the reel of a fishing rod

Syntactic Ambiguity definition

-> a situation where a sentence may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous sentence structure.

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I wanted to title this piece initially in context of distaste, but after reading a couple definitions I was quickly reminded of the subjectivity of language. Not only that but how in different contexts, words can transmute themselves from one meaning to another. I understood reeling as a quick and intentional withdrawal, as by product of one's disgust, but alternatively reeling as a pulling in, in terms of fishing.

I liked how the same word has completely opposite meanings and I thought it nicely paralleled how one may feel or receive others depending on their context.

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So if I now were to say I'm 'reeling' or I'm being 'reeled', what definition would you assume I'm referring to? Would you assume I've recently been made to feel an alarming measure of disgust, that my own actions have been so distasteful I've managed to concoct an internal dwelling of negativity, comedically volatile, ready to boil over and stain my perception of things at the slightest indication of inconvenience? Would you default to me being the architect of my own prison and question my entrapment, despite me holding the key?

Or rather my reeling is due to external circumstance. And rather than subjecting myself to this mental violence, I have in fact been subjected to actions outside of my own making.

Maybe for my optimists, and for those feeling the warmth of February, you immediately imagined an inviting other, that has managed to bewitch and lure me in. Maybe I've been pulled from cold waters and taken in to be tended to with gentle hands. The careful removal of the fishing hook, the intentional incisions made only when necessary, my scales now removed and my skin glistening under their light. My flesh, my tastiest parts, left unbruised. I'm laid out, ripe for consumption.

Maybe you envision the willful joining of two into one?

Is my mutilation integral to my reeling? Or is it me who seeks harm?

Like a meal worm on a fishing hook to a fish. Bland and unassuming to the fisher, but foolproof and effective if the intent is to catch something to momentarily satiate your hunger. You pull me out of my waters, my sustenance, and now I'm left flailing and suffocated in your unfamiliar territory. Blanched, filleted, deboned and diced.

I barely resemble what I once was.

My flesh once took colours that were vivid and bright, my fats drawing contoured lines which contrasted my deep and rich hues, hues that were once bound in skin and scales. I'm now seared and cubed with a new name, coated with your concoctions, I'm easier to consume this way.

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I had no goal for this piece ngl but my main goal was to keep it as ambiguous as possible. I started with the intent to conjure up previous emotions but I ended up abit lost in it, but I don't mind that at all. Its lowkey a nod to the piece I wrote around this time last year, like a distant cousin of hers, or maybe its part two? yemisplace - verse ? 

anyways I hope this was enjoyable, I really like all the double meaning and allegory in this :) (not to self glaze or anything lmao)