The world
He looks at you with the tired, with the belly full of hunger, distended
The world did feed him all the things he didn’t need
and chose for him
and blamed him for being the reason
And saying, reiterated, convincing
He matters to something, but has to prove he matters to something
and doesn’t matter to simply matter
that the matter that makes him isn’t enough to exist
We built the world and added values to symbols, forged metal under mountains, built another planet, build a world on top of the mining, and burned wood to cook, and carbon sediment to see,
Complicate, reinvent, shift
Dig deeper, the holes fill with black gold, and develop develop at the speed horses can’t catch. Blind to the cracks that fissure and micro-tectonic the foundations where foundations rest.
and framed forest to hang pulverized rock and cardboard and paint, and chemicals to keep it all from being returned to the earth.
more chemicals, more, more, more
wired ideas to chips
human, or disguised plastic
person, or decorated apparatus
machine appliance tool device instrument utensil contraption gadget structure system
contrivance
Prioritize, it said, make them right and appropriate
listen
The top can’t stop itself from looking up and reaching back, down, with delusion, proven
Impersonate suffering to reaffirm
their survivorship bias
And laugh at us complacent, believing in fairness, distracted by affirmative action
laugh
laugh
the hierarchy finds it funny that so many could fight for fairness
The demands sneak in like decimals of imperceptible decibels and smells that might not really be there
and concentrate into a distraction machine
until he can’t breathe but doesn’t know because little sips of life have been stolen from him in the blinks on the peripheral vision
and bounces and icons and vibrates and pings
and colors and colors and colors until he doesn’t know the difference between color and addiction.
Until a shape makes him look at his phone and need a release and find it—regret—find what someone else wanted, and chose him.
