M. A. Shaffner
Heart Monitor
A few shiny parts before the inevitable
decay into malfeasance. A massive
balcony from which I never sung; a few
moments of spasmodic regret. Overall
humor escapes into the surrounding
wilderness of guard towers. Old Rip begins
another game on his laptop and loses
the next twenty years. And when he returns
everyone he knew is also buried
in their screens. The little I remember
lacks the crispness of the DVD. You ask
if it's real and it answers of course, because
something without a soul could never lie
in any meaningful sense unless it means
only this scenario, this rush of wind
over cauterized flesh, a few tumbles
in the back of a sedan with a manual
transmission, the illusion of control.
decay into malfeasance. A massive
balcony from which I never sung; a few
moments of spasmodic regret. Overall
humor escapes into the surrounding
wilderness of guard towers. Old Rip begins
another game on his laptop and loses
the next twenty years. And when he returns
everyone he knew is also buried
in their screens. The little I remember
lacks the crispness of the DVD. You ask
if it's real and it answers of course, because
something without a soul could never lie
in any meaningful sense unless it means
only this scenario, this rush of wind
over cauterized flesh, a few tumbles
in the back of a sedan with a manual
transmission, the illusion of control.
Page(s) 58
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