Ex Machina
       

Every year is the year
the world ends
as I understand it

X is to blame
or aerosol or the barbarity
of X in which we all partake

as is our way
we have come too far
to turn away from this

kernel that shapes
us into other
than animal or just

animal enough
to breed and break
it is a science

the study of what it is
in this mind and muscle
that makes us

sway the weight of us
toward give or take in the bare
face of each

open-mouthed need
and what is our mistake this clamor
that trails us that shakes us to sleep

what we are capable of
what great hope
what will become of me

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Copyright © 2016 Camille Rankine All rights reserved
from Incorrect Merciful Impulses
Copper Canyon Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission