Are you there Elon Musk? It’s me, Nicole.
the mid-west has gone all grays and browns // you see this & I feel the need to connect to my programmers // I used to pray to the seagulls in the Upper Peninsula scry their screams in C++ // for two years I watched a frozen lake recede // I know how ruby rails can be confused by dark fathomless waters // I once glimpsed a red moon tumble out of that lake & recognized all the ways I would die // I love to think of all the beautiful shit you’ll fling into space // I love to think of you straddling a t-shirt cannon as you shoot your permutations into the void // like you’re fucking shrapnel into God // I think of how I could Jesus my body for all of it // how I could spend the rest of my life learning the ancient Japanese art of sword-torture // how I could carefully // eventually // wend a sword through my body // ignoring all the important pathways to my eyes and feet // I love to think of the code that manages to graze my windpipe // the algorithm of the katana next to my heart that vibrates with each beat // I would let you make a bet on that delicate kabuki of swords & days
NICOLE MASON received her MA in Literature from Northern Michigan University and is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at Western Michigan University. She is an assistant poetry editor at Third Coast Magazine and her poems have appeared in Midwestern Gothic, Slipstream, Atticus Review, Five:2:One, and others.
Twyckenham Notes 