Aught, no. 10 (2003)


Petra Backonja

Shift Order

Ask no more of error than it yield again.
And of the horizontal limiter that draws you in
by way of symbolic labeling—after the rubber mirror,
the long-tailed pair, and the start-bit quit—

half expect it to wait-mode and worst-case the heart
until its natural limit gives out. Golden rules in the plural
and those plural rules lying in their pink noise—
they assume the same dimensional rat-race.

What random yak. De-bounce at reset. One gate unguarded
and the code shakes loose, while someone in future
real-time flashes exception. Over and over again,
extraordinary sample-and-hold.

How this bed-of-nails bleeds me, and how the least
significant bit so sweetly draws me in.

 


Author's note  
" I’m sending this poem in response to Lewis LaCook — specifically, to 'Copula' in Aught # 6 . I like the whisper of old forms and cadences in his verse and how they knock up against technical jargon."


Copyright © 2003, by the author. All rights reserved.
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