Mistakes Were Made

Stretch that union foot by foot, inch by concrete inch.

We will hear of it

in yesterday’s news, certainly

by the day before yesterday.

This is unconscionable, we will say,

once we are wracked and curled

around an overpass.

Consult the stammering prophet,

who lifts his eyes to satellites

and reads the portents of three hundred million

strongly held opinions.

Cling to the future, go on;

but that history will stretch in one direction only—

toward a reckless wrecking of the clock,

deftly deafening the truth,

that mindless mining of the soul.

First published April 1, 2024 in As Surely As the Sun Literary, Issue 4, p. 13.