NEW RULES FOR HANGMAN

FUN GAME FOR ALL AGES

Photo by Tamara Gore on Unsplash

THE GAME BEGINS WITH EMPTY GALLOWS AND IT IS NOT OVER UNTIL YOU UNCOVER MY SECRET AND DESTROY ME.

TAKE YOUR BEST GUESS.

I HANG ONLY IF YOU CAN RENDER THE ENTIRETY OF MY ____, WHICH YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO THROUGH ACTS OF SPEECH.

THIS TELLS ME SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL FAIL TO GUESS, WHICH IS THAT I WILL BE SPARED BY REMAINING PARTIALLY OBSCURED.

OR ELSE, BY LETTING YOU BELIEVE THERE IS NO MORE OF MY ____ TO FIND.

YOU WOULD LOVE TO MERELY HAPPEN UPON MY ____ FOLLOWING THIS EXECUTION, BLAMELESS OF ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS STATE, MERELY THOROUGH WHEN YOU UNWRAP MY ____ AND REVEAL ITS TRUE ESSENCE AT LAST.

YOU WOULD DENY YOUR FEELINGS OF RELIEF AND ACCOMPLISHMENT AND COMFORT IN THE MATTER OF REPORTING YOUR SIMPLE TRUTHS (INNOCENT, WHOLESOME) AND HARD FACTS (WISE, RUGGED) ABOUT MY ____ TO THE TABLOID, TO BE MENTIONED BY THE BIOGRAPHER, TO BE CITED BY THE ENCYCLOPEDIA, YOUR SMUG LITTLE CERTAINTIES BETRAYED BENEATH THAT SLY SUBHEADING CALLED CONTROVERSY WHICH PORTRAYS YOUR ROLE WITH MORE RESPECT THAN YOU HAVE EXTENDED TO MY ____ EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER ITS END.

YOU WOULD NOT NOTICE OR ELSE WOULD NOT ACCEPT THAT YOU WERE IN THE ROLE OF THE EXECUTIONER WHEN YOU ATTEMPT TO SPELL ME TO DEATH THROUGH GLIMPSES OF MY ____, WHEN YOU ATTEMPT TO RENDER MY ____ IN THE PAST TENSE AT EVERY TURN.

YOU INSTEAD BELIEVE THIS IS AN EASY GAME, EDUCATIONAL, REMEDIAL, NOT VERY HARD BECAUSE THE INEVITABLE EXPOSURE OF MY ____ IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE, FOLKLORE, EVERYWHERE AS IF FORETOLD.

BUT YOU WILL FAIL, AND YOU WILL LOSE. : )

WHEN YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED, KNOWN, FIXED SOMETHING THAT IS AS NEUTRAL AS YOUR FEELINGS AND WHICH YOU HAVE IMPARTIALLY PUT TO RECORD, THERE WILL BE SOME SMALL LIKENESS TO IT, YES, BUT SUCH A TRAINED EYE AS YOURS WILL EASILY MISS THE REAL RESEMBLANCE.

IT WILL NOT BE ME OR MY ____ IN THE IMPRINT OF YOUR VIOLENCE, NO.

YOU WILL ONLY HAVE DRAWN SOME SILLY LITTLE STICK FIGURE.