Built up like layers of rock,
the empty space increases
as the fire spreads.
A worm without reluctance
weaving its way across the landscape
eating dirt until it hurts.
Arbitrary value, a shell game
taking prisoners by the nation.
All progress just the construction
of better masks, and without
accountable faces every option
is, in fact, a worthy option.
Body count score boards
scroll across the bottom of the screen
during local and national news.
Five minute commercials for shoes
making everyone hate what they walk in.
Clocks running backwards like they forgot
something, but they didn’t.
They couldn’t see it,
but it was with them all along.
What They Walk In
Teleporting Typewriter 