Semantic Satiation

repeating a phrase

over and over and over
again and again and again

until eventually

it becomes something like nothing

a speech devoid of all meaning. . .

"i love you"

over and over

"i love you"

again and again

"i love you"

until it starts to lose meaning

(i love you?)

until it's like you say nothing

(i love you!)

but your lips are still moving

(i love you. . .)

. . . we call this, semantic satiation ("roll credits")

a phenomenon of the human brain (built from repetition)

a glitch in our pattern recognition  (f****n' algorithm's)

repeating a phrase

again and again and

over and over and . . .

         (over)

     into nothing

     into nothing 

into not a thing at all

(but your lips are still moving)

Author's Note

Reviews

[hello there]

this is so prevalent in this century. we often let go of words over and over again, until the beauty of it is lost. the more repetitions, the less special it becomes. i liked the poem!

[Davidgeo]

Thanks! I kinda forgot about this one. Good god damn that's a catchy song at the end....

[Chris Shaw]

Guess the repetition turns from being effective into something that is cheapened. Is that what you are saying David?

Chris

[Davidgeo]

Google the term "semantic satiation". It'll make more sense that way.