The Distinguishing Aspect

By John Beach

John Beach's fifth collection of poetry. The 35 terzanelle poems in this collection are about identity: both the secret identity and the public persona. I have chosen 26 characters from classic literature, theater, the Pulps, comic books, and radio programs, each of whom uses a hidden identity (or identities) for heroic and less-than-heroic purposes. The real question is why they do so, why any of us do.

The terzanelle is a French/Italian adaptation of the terza rima to the villanelle form. Each terzanelle is meant to be 19 lines long (ten syllables each), composed of five triplets with a concluding quatrain, and are written in iambic pentamater. I don't pay much attention to where my metrical feet are stepping, but I enjoy the puzzle-like nature of this form and the subtlety of the repeating lines, the variations in meaning. I also enjoy breaking the lines and changing punctuation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Beach
• Release date: Jun 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301227006

John Beach

John describes himself now as “the evolutionary result of Paperboy to Grocery Store Worker to Professional College Student to Magazine Editor to Computer Night Operator to Jr. Database Programmer to System Administrator to Computer Consultant to College Professor to Dean of Information Technology to Retired Old Guy Who's Really Not Old Enough To Be Retired.” He’s always been around writing and has used it daily in his professional life. He's used it in his leisure time, too, often when he plotted out D&D adventures that he and his players communally craft together around the dining room table and on Zoom. John’s always loved stories, always had them forming, churning, and reshaping in his brain. It wasn’t until he began closing in on an early retirement (for health reasons) that he began to get those stories out of his head and into text documents and then released into the world through ePublishing.You can visit with John on Facebook. He’d love to hear from you regarding his written work (and your hobbies), and he would greatly appreciate it if you could write reviews for his books. Ask him for free coupons if you need them. He only puts prices on his most recent books so that people will take them more seriously. The money’s not important: his stories and poems just want to be read.

Book preview

The Distinguishing Aspect

We are not who we are under the mask.

We are a declaration to the world,

our secret identity brought to task

and reduced to single purpose, unfurled

to act without threat of repercussion.

We are a declaration to the world

of self—realized—an incarnation

of vigilance and ultimate freedom

to act without threat of repercussion

to loved ones. We seek to inspire, become

the firebrand, the distinguishing aspect

of vigilance and ultimate freedom.

In our hearts, we’ve the desire to protect.

We are the mask, the living conviction,

the firebrand. The distinguishing aspect

of self is persona, our depiction.

We are not who we are under the mask.

We are the mask, the living