He can’t quite remember when they started –
the text messages direct to his head,
actual text messages
appearing on the screen of his brain
preceded by a ping;
they were innocuous at first
quasi-inspirational stuff like:
ping! write like no one is reading;
ping! own the day, it cost you nothing.
Then they became fragmented
as if someone was trigger happy
on the ‘send’ button:
ping! America, the country
ping! that God is asked to bless
ping! is hurtling down
ping! a golden garbage chute
ping! that goes all the way
ping! to hell!
Then, nothing for a while.
Then, one message repeating
its sneer implicit in its abbreviation
its adopted argot,
over and over again
a textual assault:
ping! Dems got no game
ping! Dems got no game
ping! Dems got no game….
I am not a silent poet 