We are leading ourselves further and
further into the ether — our words,
and pictures, vaporized to nano-coughs
enmeshed in circuits as small as a final breath.
We’ve vanished into light waves, mere as ripples
brief as a soap bubbles, reliable as memory
as we believe — oh, we believe! — that we’re outrunning Death.
After us, we’ll leave a billion crumpled plastic bags,
countless empty lighters, dishware of compressed
petroleum, clothes that won’t decay, and
the husks of all our circuitry – mindless, cold,
mute as the Sphinx, standing for a culture
that wouldn’t believe in Death.
An award-winning poet, Catherine McGuire has been widely published online and in print magazines over the past two decades. More than 100 poems have appeared in publications including New Verse News, The Smoking Poet, MReview, Portland Lights Anthology, Folio, Tapjoe and Adagio. She has published a chapbook, “Joy Into Stillness: Seasons of Lake Quinault” and is newsletter editor of Oregon State Poetry Association.
© 2009, Catherine McGuire
Halfway Down the Stairs 