No Slave Left Behind

 

no slave left behind
soon chipped for progress to lose myself with my digital id
neural-linked to my cbdc wallet/ personalised variegated currency
my credit allowance expiration dates/ rewritable scrubbable history
integrating valued behaviours/ bespoke personality
my neo-akashic record to present all with all my psychic leakage
and stamped with my jab-dna passport kept healthy
i might freely roam right to the very glassy edges
to the very glassy edges of this my endearing fifteen-minute/mile city
no slave left behind
no slave left behind..

no slave left behind
the singularity will beam me my repurposed state of mind
eager to be pump-primed/ earn privileges i shall receive treats
more flexible expiry dates more potency-points more sweeties
i will comply and i will comply/ vacuum-packed tripseed
starlink pleroma i will report the dissidents and dislikers
i will be as one with the smart city grid/ all-seeing-eye
i will be licensed a new future-to-past
i will sport spinning glitterball eraserbubbletm irises
no slave left behind
no slave left behind..

no slave left behind
protein worms/ munificent offerings/ the beneficent messiah a.i.
electromagnetic panoptic prism/ synthetic limitless hedgerow skies
i shall be the empty goblet energised
pouring forth bountiful numbness aligned
less i be rearranged and reassigned
lesser designed
deported to a gamma-man entrainment reeducation leasure camp
andrenochrome scooped to be grated dappled/ clamped/ fish-tanked
no slave left behind
no slave left behind..

sterile and pure/ lights out/ the ventilator that passeth all understanding
smart lampshade/ trigger monitor/ liquidator retinas/ blow-up sophia-love
shorn-note songs/ activated neon tatt throngs/ fluoridated pilgramages
my pine cone readied to pendulum swing/ empowering zip-ventilated wings
pureblood-gonged/ shed on/ golden graphene/ monsoons of aluminium
no slave left behind
no slave left behind..

racing to this boundary
but the engine cuts out
and as it rolls to a crawl
all the doors lock..

i somehow smash my way out
and beneath the unlit undusted trees i run
then a cloud-strober
then a flash and then another 
a searing heat shoots up and down my spine shattering
splintering i explode
fall onto the wasteland barren a meadow of real grass
fade..

and am i dead..

asleep i awake
what a strange and bad dream
why would i imagine even doing such a ridiculous thing..

no slave left behind
no slave left behind..

Senryu '23

 

noisy distractions
lid the deafening silence
as hidden wheels turn..

In Loving Silence

 
faux stained-glass windows baffle the echoes of trickling sand
strummed souls plucked and picked flicker
the fear-amplified loom over themselves out-of-body 
the dark preacher booms light he lassoes extraordinarily renditioned
loving light turned inside-out
and straight-jacketed in sackcloth and hateful understanding
the voice and presence the earthen judge with alibis
grim-faced with conviction
regular hot ash and fries..

he need not forgive himself for condemning the experienced
as spaghetti strings of frankincense veil the polished message-mincer
curlicues of guilt encircle the blamed annointed with malevolence
the dusted eyes raise up so fearful beseech the tulpa flames 
the damned for heaven claimed
and disposed of before their expiration date..

and in a bar somewhere
a kind and wise and wayward man
listens to the deepest secret of a troubled stranger
after she unburdens herself
she gossamer brushes his hand the sincerest blessing
a vodka-washed thank-you angel feathered..

contemplative for a while they remain
they remain in a shared and generous chrome-reflective silence
a generous silence that both the creator and the barman understand
they part ways once and forever
the listening voice again has spoken
the listening voice that never asks for anything in return..