PERCEPTION AS TRUTH
What if the sky was made of Papier-mâché
and the land a giant bathtub
with its stopper in New Zealand?
And what if the lines of latitude
were rings of wire suspending the paper dome
above the earth?
What if it’s all illusion and we’re simply make believe
and our eyes are telling us
what they perceive to be the truth?
What does it really matter?Why do we even care?
—
Leilanie Stewart © 2017
First published in Neon Highway Issue 19.
About Leilanie Stewart
Leilanie Stewart is an award-winning author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She writes ghost and psychological horror, as well as experimental poetry. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis and create a new sense of identity. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry.
In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Anthologies, a creative writing publication with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.
Leilanie Stewart 