poem
Volume 27, Number 4

Independence Day Was a Documentary

The aliens are here.
I know this because on Fox News
The ticker on the bottom
Of the screen reads the aliens
Are here, drinking our filtered
Water, seeping into our bloodstreams.

The anchor, white-capped
Teeth moving in future tense
Says to feel this fear,
How it’s normal to feel
And to fear. Don’t be
Afraid to be afraid.

But what can a wall hold?
What drone doesn’t need a nap?
Every action causes a reaction
And every reaction causes
Us to point our guns
In the air. Don’t shoot, the sky
Begs. What floats up here
Has always floated up here.

The anchor says, We don’t
Know what they want
But what they want
Is probably what we don’t want
Them to want.


—C.J. Miles