Mean Free Path. Ben Lerner

Let those who object

      To the pathos swallow their tongues. My numb

      Rebarbative people, put down your Glocks

      And your Big Gulps. We have birthmarks to earn

      Around 1945 the question becomes: Sleepyhead

      Since the world is ending, may I eat the candy

      Necklace off your body? Turn the record over

      Turn the pillow over. It has a cooler side

      Like a vein on the wing of a locust

      The seam of hope disclosed by her voice

      It cannot save us. But it can remind us

      Survival is a butcher’s goal. All hands

      To the pathos. Let the credits

      Bend the plastic stick and break the interior tube

      The reaction emits light, but not heat

      The tragedy of dialectics. Sand-sized particles

      Of revolutionary possibility fall constantly