Upside Down

Upside Down

You released your scent
and everything changed up.
I was the hunter,
but you no longer
were the prey, so hot the day
became between us.
I am upside down,
heart surely broken and now
I must not let you
know you have spiked me,
taken my soul from my grasp,
laid my plans to waste.

March 10, 2010 7:34 AM

Wiki says: "In journalistic parlance, spiking refers to withholding a story from publication for reasons pertaining to its veracity (whether or not it conforms to the facts). Spiking is relatively rare and usually happens late in the editing process (after the assigning editor has signed off on it). It is only required when a simple edit or questioning the reporter or assigning editor cannot fix the problem.
Reasons for spiking include a clear bias (someone on an opposing side of an issue did not respond, despite the fact that said response is central to the story), a major hole (many, if not most, readers will have a question after reading the story) or a sudden change in events (three more people have died, but getting details from officials is impossible on deadline).

"In some cases, a story may be spiked if it is deemed to conflict with the commercial interests of the newspaper's publisher - if, for example, it concerns a company with whom the publisher has a close relationship. This is more likely at a local level, where small newspapers are dependent on advertising revenue from businesses such as estate agents and recruitment agencies.

"Stories are spiked for other reasons, but in any case, the decision is not taken lightly, as a valid, usually detailed explanation will be solicited by those further up the chain of command, often at the behest of the reporter."

Now I have revealed my age in deep language. That I would use "spike", meaning that I have been forcibly shut down, knowing the newspaper usage from the age when newspapers were the dominant form, means I have memory of a world without calculators, let alone computers, when slide rules were the engineering tool, and books of logarithms and calculated trig functions were on every engineering desk. In those days, we used slang terms from the hot work of the time. Newspapers were happening things.

Of course this could be a baseball term too... If I am working second base, then the runner sliding in high from first might spike me to break up the double play.

Any sports team wearing spikes can use them this way.

How about getting esoteric and theological in the far background, because Jesus was spiked to the tree.

I like the main newspaper reference: "...withholding a story from publication for reasons pertaining to its veracity (whether or not it conforms to the facts)..." which clearly describes what I call lying by telling the truth. Lying by telling the truth is the highest and most subtle dishonesty, the top end tool in the skill kit of a liar.

Oh yes, here's another reference for the use of "spiked"...a woman in "spike" heels can use her shoe as a weapon as we were taught in the sixties.

If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
- Jack Gilbert
from A Brief For The Defense