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.

New to The New Criterion?

Subscribe for one year to receive ten print issues, and gain immediate access to our online archive spanning more than four decades of art and cultural criticism.

This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 37 Number 6, on page 27
Copyright © 2023 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/2/numbers