VCR&B

All my favorite singers sound like modems.

I intend this to be read as a loving observation

the same way an aging mechanic lifts the engine

from the torso of his Cutlass Supreme

& sends it off to become someone else’s future.

Which is to say, coolly, I know what time it is.

All my favorite singers sample dead legends

& let the spirit speak in HD:

Heathen’s Desire, Holy Diffraction

the only difference worth noting

is whether you want your body

to be something it is not or someplace

it has never been when the synth-laden outro

begins. Whether you do or do not believe

that freaky cyborgs are indeed amongst us

when the bass kicks you upside the knees

like a little brother testing his legs, his luck,

your love. All my favorite singers tend to refrain

from using terms like love un-ironically,

which could be read as a way of distancing

what we came here for or what we built

this petulant hunger from. Zapp & Roger

hum Compuuuter Luuuuuuv & I don’t

imagine another person on the end

of another screen, blowing emoji kisses at me

from across the distance, but a glowing Xbox

One, my first iPhone, this smooth, black alphabet

full of wires & light, lying to my escapist

heart, daring this flesh to be its own

system of stars & gas giants, unfurl into the slick

ether like so much cellophane, everywhere

& nowhere I have ever wanted to be.