Numbers

Seethe on silicon
like bacterial plaques.
Somehow they liken

to appearances.
They have a seemliness from
which all earth rinses.

The algorithm:
Elegant? Intelligent?
What??—a silicon

coelacanth! Log on:
Forgot your password? Reset
as La0c00n.

Unlikeness yaws thought.
Timor mortis is the thought.
That land Time forgot.

This—no mere mirror.
Nor is an error message
like no tomorrow.

Richard Kenney teaches at the University of Washington’s marine laboratories in Friday Harbor.

Topics:Poetry