Ghostly-paler nights, closer-
and closer-away disasters—
this is no Disney park;
no handholds, no boardwalk of nations,
no lanterns—visible stars, like
lights in the harbor. Far too dangerous
to be seen, to get caught
thinking—let alone to just imagine
the thought
as: only the post-conscious representation
of a prior neural-chemical action
over which we as agents had
no control.
We had no idea.
Why would we
listen—why lay down our arms
with intent
to become weapons instead?
Why come, increasingly, with user
instructions and warnings, why bother
to refashion ourselves next time
thinner, lighter, smaller?
Why no longer try to conceal ourselves
in order to carry
one another across certainty's borders?
Ghostlier and ghostlier,
smoother and smoother—over time
we might come to trust ourselves
not as guns, but as their
hair triggers—if we are moved to act,
it is because we got bumped, not
squeezed by an omnipotent finger.
