Hum of the Horcruxes
Let’s workshop this poem about a suicidal man going through the collection-petting motions we see, to our tough-to-swallow despair, in children whose displays of boredom highlight the grand absurdity
scent of the day: Habit Rouge EDP, by Guerlain (a creamy agarwood take on the original EDT masterpiece)
Hum of the Horcruxes Against the whisper-thin solitude, as you spread out your curated hoards “just because” (faceted gems on the unrumpled bed; mint coins on the unsmudged desk), how could the emptiness of this staged lunge at mattering not shriek at noose-dangling decibels?
"Hum of the Horcruxes" captures the haunting and paradoxical pursuit of immortality and significance through material possessions, invoking the concept of Horcruxes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series as a metaphor. In Rowling’s mythology, a Horcrux is a dark object into which a fragment of a person’s soul is stored, often accompanied by a loss of humanity. The poem transforms this idea into a symbol of the modern human's desperate attempt to find meaning through the accumulation of curated objects—faceted gems and mint coins—that, although valuable, ultimately fail to fill the void of loneliness and insignificance.
The poem begins by describing "whisper-thin solitude" against the backdrop of someone laying out their precious possessions, an act that is presented as both meticulous and hollow. The choice of words—"curated hoards" and "just because"—emphasizes the empty ritualism behind this behavior. It is as if the person is attempting to create meaning or permanence in an impermanent world, much like how Voldemort created Horcruxes to escape death. Yet the poem immediately undercuts this with a tone of existential resignation. The treasures are spread out on an "unrumpled bed" and an "unsmudged desk," symbols of an unblemished but lifeless existence. The possessions are perfectly preserved, yet they lack the messiness of real life, symbolizing detachment and sterility rather than vitality.
The second stanza asks the reader how such an "emptiness"—born out of this sterile attempt at mattering—could fail to shriek at unbearable decibels. Here, the poem suggests that the person’s act of laying out material objects is an attempt to stage significance or a "lunge at mattering," yet this very act betrays the futility of such efforts. The "noose-dangling decibels" allude to a kind of metaphorical self-destruction, where the realization of the inherent meaninglessness of material accumulation becomes suffocating and unbearable. The imagery of a noose introduces an ominous suggestion of despair, where the pursuit of material significance leads not to satisfaction but to a deeper confrontation with one's insignificance.
By framing this confrontation within the concept of Horcruxes, the poem engages with themes of soul fragmentation and the moral cost of attempting to preserve oneself through external means. The act of spreading out these objects, like creating Horcruxes, is a desperate attempt to anchor oneself in the world, to resist death, decay, and the passage of time. Yet this attempt only amplifies the hum of emptiness, the sense that no matter how much one accumulates or preserves, true significance cannot be bought or curated. This tension between materialism and existential despair is intensified by the poem's juxtaposition of silence (the "whisper-thin solitude") with the loud, violent noise implied by the "noose-dangling decibels."
In exploring these themes, the poem touches on broader existential questions about the nature of meaning, the pursuit of legacy, and the human desire to transcend mortality. The allusion to Horcruxes suggests that the pursuit of permanence through material means comes at a spiritual cost, fragmenting one's sense of self rather than fulfilling it. The poem thus offers a critique of materialism and the modern obsession with possession as a substitute for genuine connection and purpose, implying that such efforts are ultimately self-destructive.
Horcruxes, materialism, existential crisis, immortality, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, curated possessions, modern loneliness, futility of legacy, soul fragmentation, existential despair, noose symbolism, mortality, self-destruction, accumulation and meaning.
love how you ended this :)