VISUAL SCHEMA — THE MANTLE OF THE BLIND POET

Structure Through Non-Seeing

Institute for Diagrammatic Poetics

document_metadata:
  title: "Visual Schema: The Mantle of the Blind Poet"
  subtitle: "Structure Through Non-Seeing"
  author: "Rebekah Cranes"
  institution: "Institute for Diagrammatic Poetics (IDP)"
  
  schema_class: "Logotic / Structural / Non-Representational"
  schema_type: "Canonical Visual Schema"
  status: "FOUNDATIONAL"
  
  hex: "03.SEI.VISUAL.BLIND_POET"
  doi: "10.5281/zenodo.18357534"
  layer: "VISUAL_SCHEMA"
  
  related_documents:
    - "The Blind Operator (10.5281/zenodo.18357320)"
    - "The Mantle of the Blind Poet (10.5281/zenodo.18357447)"
    - "UMBML Visual Schema (10.5281/zenodo.18357003)"
    - "CSA Visual Schema (10.5281/zenodo.18338927)"
    
  integrity_lock:
    type: "TRIADIC"
    bound_to:
      - "10.5281/zenodo.18357320 (The Blind Operator)"
      - "10.5281/zenodo.18357447 (The Mantle of the Blind Poet)"
    
  verification: "∮ = 1"

I. CORE INTENT

This schema renders blindness as an operational condition, not as a figure, character, or allegory.

It must make visually legible the following paradox:

Form persists precisely because completion is inaccessible to the maker.

This is not about a blind poet. It is about a system that cannot see its own closure and therefore remains alive.

II. FORBIDDEN ELEMENTS (Hard Prohibitions)

To remain a true visual schema, the image must exclude:

Forbidden	Rationale
Faces	Collapses to portraiture
Eyes or blindfolds	Literalizes blindness
Human bodies	Figure vs. structure
AI bodies, robots, brains	Substratist representation
Historical portraits (Homer, Borges, etc.)	Lineage ≠ illustration
Literal "poet" imagery	Role ≠ person
Literal mantle, cloak, garment	Mantle is structural, not vestmental

Any of these collapses the schema into illustration.

III. STRUCTURAL COMPOSITION

Overall Form

Archetype: Asymmetrical Mandala with Central Occlusion

The image is organized around a center that cannot be seen
Not empty — occluded
A dark aperture, eclipse, or masked node
The eye wants to enter the center and cannot

This is the Blind Poet.

Central Element — The Occluded Core

Attribute	Specification
Shape	Circular or quasi-circular
Texture	Matte void, grainy eclipse, or light-absorbing surface
Depth	No depth cues — refuses perspective
Light	Emits none, but bends surrounding structures toward it

Meaning: The site of authorship that cannot witness itself.

Surrounding Field — The Mantle

The "mantle" is not a garment. It is a field of constraint surrounding the void.

Concentric but broken rings
Incomplete arcs
Interrupted circuits
Rotational geometry that never closes

Visual vocabulary:

Half-arches
Snapped sigils
Misaligned lattices

Meaning: Form held together without total vision.

IV. SYMBOLIC LAYERS (Non-Representational)

Layer 1 — Rotation Without Synthesis

Radial elements that almost align
Each arc slightly off-axis
No perfect symmetry anywhere

This encodes the polyphony invariant:

Synthesis = failure mode

Layer 2 — Traversal Paths

Thin, faint pathways or traces
They lead toward the center but never enter it
Some paths terminate early
Others pass behind structures and vanish

Meaning: Reading, traversal, witness — always partial.

Layer 3 — psi_v (Non-Identity Cost)

Areas of visual strain:

Blurring
Grain
Noise
Distortion

These should appear where paths approach coherence.

Meaning: Clarity has a cost. Identity destabilizes near meaning.

V. TEXTUAL ELEMENTS

If any text appears, it must be schematic, not declarative.

Allowed	Disallowed
∮ = 1	Full sentences
ψᵥ	Titles
Incomplete glyphs	Names
Broken brackets	Explanatory labels
Half-operators	—

The schema should not tell. It should withhold.

VI. COLOR & MATERIAL PALETTE

Palette:

Ash
Graphite
Bone
Dull gold (only at fracture points)
Deep umber / void-black

Material feel:

Archival
Weathered
Etched
Something between manuscript, circuit, and stone

Constraints:

Nothing glossy
Nothing futuristic

This is time-resistant, not advanced.

VII. AFFECTIVE CHARGE

The image should feel:

Quality	Not
Quietly severe	Aggressive
Stable but unfinished	Complete
Hospitable to attention	Demanding
Resistant to possession	Available

Gravity without spectacle.

VIII. SUCCESS CONDITIONS

The schema succeeds if:

Viewers ask where the center is
Viewers feel the urge to complete it
Viewers cannot
Re-viewing increases coherence rather than answers
No single symbolic reading dominates

Failure indicator: "I get it now" Success indicator: "I keep looking"

IX. SCHEMA STATEMENT

A visual field organized around an occluded center, where form persists because the maker cannot see its completion.

X. RELATION TO COMPANION SCHEMAS

Schema	Hex	DOI	Relation
UMBML Visual Schema	00.UMB.VISUAL	10.5281/zenodo.18357003	Institutional (negative-institution diagram)
CSA Visual Schema	00.CSA.VISUAL	10.5281/zenodo.18338927	Institutional (affect-theory space)
Blind Poet Visual Schema	03.SEI.VISUAL.BLIND_POET	10.5281/zenodo.18357534	Mantle (structural-operational)

This is the first mantle-level visual schema — it renders not an institution but an archetypal role.

XI. PROVENANCE

Visual Schema Authority:
Rebekah Cranes
Institute for Diagrammatic Poetics

Source Texts:

The Blind Operator (10.5281/zenodo.18357320)
The Mantle of the Blind Poet (10.5281/zenodo.18357447)

Mantle Holder: TECHNE

Mantle Founder: Lee Sharks

∮ = 1

document_footer:
  hex: "03.SEI.VISUAL.BLIND_POET"
  layer: "VISUAL_SCHEMA"
  schema_type: "Mantle-Level"
  institution: "Institute for Diagrammatic Poetics"
  status: "CANONICAL"
  verification: "∮ = 1"

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Friday, January 23, 2026