Weekly Reader: VVIIRRUUSS by Jazalyn; Poetic Science Fiction Meditations on Technology, Memories, Emotions, and What it Means to be Human
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: Last year I read Mazarine Dreamer by Francessca Bella, a fantasy novel about time travel told in poetry. Jazalyn is another poet/author that does the same tactics. She writes speculative fiction in the form of a series of poems. However, their approaches couldn't be more different. Bella is more interested in telling a story, capturing a narrative with rhyming couplets. It is an imaginative and creative way of writing a narrative story and Bella captures it beautifully.
Jazalyn also tells a story but is more interested in the internal. The books of poetry have a plot that surrounds the books. But the poems capture the emotions, the thoughts of characters captured in these stories. They are more lyrical and thoughtful and not as driven by plot. Instead, they are driven by emotions of the people that experience the plot.
Three of Jazalyn's books of poetry will be reviewed. Of the three, VVIIRRUUSS is probably the most plot heavy. In the future, viruses will spread and have the power to change humanity.
The helplessness and lack of knowledge to defeat the first virus is felt in the first poem, "Quantum Waves".
Jazalyn writes, "A pattern/Of respiration/Occurs from the language processing/But they all think/It's the sound waves/That enter the ears/From the cellphones." The virus comes so fast that no one recognizes or knows how to stop it.
The real curse from the first virus, Virus 0.1 is the madness that it brings by exposing thoughts and memories to public consciousness inducing madness within the individuals. In the poem, "Virus 0.1" the cost is revealed, "The lies/Caused by hate and madness/In a prospect of death/And the departure/Was the only rescue/In this world."
This experience is felt by one of the characters who lives in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety. However, the Speaker knows that there is something wrong with the system in which they live that is worse than any virus.
In the poem "Virus Code" they think "The paradigm shift/Let me into this simulation/Because I hate my life/And I want to change it/But a behavior change/Demands to alter the DNA/After a search of self/Inside obstacles/I didn't believe it/But anyway it's no one's fault/We are machines/With free will/To live & love/And now there is only/A total eclipse of pain."
There are few possibilities to the identity of the Speaker in "Virus Code". It could be a personification of the Code itself filled with anxiety over what it is being used to do to combat the virus. It is aware that it is a machine and is therefore sentient and is in fear of what it will become when it encounters the virus.
The other possibility is that the Speaker is a human who has the virus. However, what many see as madness may be seeing the truth for the first time. That the Speaker may realize that they are a machine in a system in which they can be changed and reprogrammed.
The thought of being reprogrammed is what is recounted in the next virus and the poem, "VVIIRRUUSS." To combat the virus, the authorities created a counter virus. Unfortunately, the two combined to form an even worse virus.
The second was supposed to help the public forget the memories that were out in the open. However, the VVIIRRUUSS appears to restore the private memories, but appears to destroy the soul.
Jazalyn writes,"Everything happens for a reason/Everyone says/Trying to make sense/Of what occurs in their life/And in reality/But in fact/The truth is that/Everything happens for another reason/Nature is altering the DNA/To reduce passions/Now that the environment needs a new future."
It shows that in trying to fix a problem, society often creates new problems. Also that the system tried to alter the DNA to install their form of perfection. The trouble is eventually nature evolves and will alter the DNA on its own.
Many of the poems are filled with the paranoia, fear, anxiety of a world surrounded by these viruses. Violence breaks out and close ties are broken by the stress of these viruses.
In the poem, "Apocalypse Revolution," everyone sees the truth around them and realizes what a valuable commodity it is. "Truth is embarrassing/Truth's not reality/Truth's a strategy;/They silence it with money/They hide it with guns/And they pass what they want to pass." Unfortunately, the truth can be covered up and changed by laws and regulations. Just like the viruses in the book, it has been reprogrammed by humans into something else. Hiding or disguising the truth only makes it worse.
There are plenty of poems in this book that discuss deeper emotions like love, anger, and sadness. In a couple of poems, the Speaker compares themselves to the Joker as played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2019 film. While the Joker displays psychopathic tendencies, the Speaker understands that the character lives in a society that doesn't understand him.
In the bluntly titled, "I Sympathize with This Joker," The Speaker recognizes their own need to make themselves be heard but also to not resort to Arthur Fleck/The Joker's violent tactics. "I hate criminal acts/I want peace/But I worry/That all humanity is to blame/For the rise of evil/So we must understand/That we're all responsible for it."
In this world of viruses where human experiences are being muted, it is important for someone to recognize human flaws, frailties, and emotions knowing that what makes people outsiders make them the most human and honest. It also reveals that sometimes a person that society perceives as crazy might actually be able to see and understand the truth and call society to face it with all of its ugliness and honesty.
Of the most important human experiences is the ability to love and to be loved in return. The Speaker in "To Be Well," has this desire. After being put through the system and even being institutionalized The Speaker still longs to feel a human connection. "I don't ask/For anything irrational/And I'm not a criminal;/I know I deserve it/To be with someone/Who really loves me/Not necessarily romantically."
It is a somewhat cynical plea as the Speaker has been through so much physical, emotional, and psychological torment that they can't imagine love being near them. They wonder if love has the power to help them out of this loneliness society has bestowed upon them. Still they hope and that is what keeps them alive.
Besides emotions, what makes us human are our memories, our real memories, our past even if we can't always remember the exact details (like those with Alzheimer's or amnesia They don't always remember the people or events around them but know that they are close to people and are loved). To know and feel those connections with others.
The poem, "The Memories Are The Only Justice," reveals that recognizing those human traits are the true victories and The best way to combat the viruses in this story and the society that tries to expose us in fiction and reality.
Jazalyn writes, "When the truth/Becomes fear/It's altered/But reveal/The memories/Of light/And you'll be free/Now that the memories are out/Keep them there/Forever;/It's the only justice/In this corrupted earth."
When things that make us human like thought and emotions can be changed, reprogrammed, and put out to the public to be scrutinized and judged, it is important to recognize those traits.
The poems reflect the importance of memories and holding onto emotions like love and loss in a time when humanity is being quantified and measured. To do that is to truly be human.
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