This immense sculpture is created in the shape of a sphinx and made up of ‘blocks’ of words, sentences and questions taken from the following poem by Hades, first published in 21st Century Human (volume 5), 2023:
Patchwork
Am I the values I believe in? And all the people that I loved?
Every city that I’ve lived in, and the country I’m free of?
Am I the quiet conversations once echoed in my head?
The old wives’ tales I overheard and all the poets that I’ve read?
The food I ate, the beds I slept in, the games I played when I was young?
All the drowsy nights spent living, all the words that crossed my tongue?
Every doubt I kept and cradled, every question that I’ve asked,
Is this how you all see me, as a patchwork of my past?
What about the hope I harbour and the hunger that I hide?
All the highs I’ve not yet felt, all the want for them resides
What about the people, I’ve not had the chance to love?
And the poets I’ve not read yet and the dreams that I dream of?
Are we all each other’s tallies of the things we did or didn’t?
Do we live our lives for measure, every hour, every minute?
Weighed by where we’ve come from, how far we’ve gone, how fast?
Do we possess nothing except how others view our past?
The answer offered inside the sculpture reads: YOU ARE THE SUM OF YOUR CHOICES
