With icicle hands I clutch
you heart
and with venom in my words,
I take control;
distort your gaze to watch for specks
deform your thoughts away from planks
and bend your sense of reason
into treason
rage against the light
fight, fight, defeat
I paint them black
I paint you red
and underneath your skin, an itch
a rash I rest.
I’m hate
but you call me love.
Francisco Goya
Today we personify abstract concepts with Mish at dVerse. What better to personify than hate which seems to be the strongest emotion in the world today?
March 25, 2025
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Oh wow…this is a powerful capture of exactly what is going on right now, with all the elements of distraction and deception.
I feel we are all falling into that trap… alas
A great oxymoron of a poem, Björn: ‘I’m hate, but you call me love’.
Thank you… hate is seldom called what it is.
This is powerful, Bjorn. As true and sharp as a gut punch.
Thank you… I find it hard myself not to hate sometimes.
powerfully written. hate is to easy sometimes.
That thin line between love and hate. Nice!
I agree, the distracted misinformed digiverse has fallen in love with hate. Yuck. And what does that do for Love? Is it weirded by the change in the tandem? I mean, what does it mean to be a Democrat in the US when when Republicans chase whaleshit?
Welll at least hating back is probably not effective… but it is a strange world that has been created.
Great poem with powerful words.
That last line….! Delightful, and delightfully dark….! Worthy set of words, but your verse suddenly got elevated all the more with that cleverest of finish.
yes… love and hate are not opposites really
Oh wow…this really hits with a painful truth for those who have lived it. Poignant.
lost our minds and sense of values, I’d say. And as long as we stay stuck in believing there is only one truth (ours) we will always be tethered like that. Sad state of affairs for humanity. Thats what I see in this poem. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! So profound
What a interesting twist, Bjorn. We humans are very manipulative!
Control is definitely not love, though it masquerades as if it were!
Dark and menacing. Just like hate. Well done.
Bjorn, this poem is as dark as can be … as black as hate, in our lives, in the world. Great writing.
Hate disguises itself as love but its true colors eventually show…