poem
Volume 34, Number 1

Humans and Holograms

As the human race plunged headfirst 
into a deep and permanent insanity,
I knew I had to find a new way of life.
Between the mice and mannequins 
I chose the rodents because they
were the texture of Earthly DNA,
unlike the machines that flashed
a pearly white smile and shook our hands before  
biting out our brains with their pernicious 
pixilated fangs as they tore us limb from limb 
until we were perfectly shaped legless, headless, armless torsos.
The lyrics of language have long since vanished,
replaced with the verbiage of robotic voice tones
in these dead-ended days. Ever since the treasonous machinations 
began their onslaught upon the unsuspecting masses,
every victim of which had already been fully prepped/strung out  
on the poisonous pixels that had 
spent decades courting them in order
to earn the chance to become trusted/loved... needed.


—Heath Brougher