Purpose
locked – cocked and ready
action potential set to a trigger
to place the world in sights
and see to it that she is fired upon
and fired upon
and fired upon.

I am told we are violence
we are the natural product of the cosmos
broken, grafted, and manipulated
into perverse projectiles
fired at blistering speeds to our end
a flash of light
a loud noise
a wound.

It hits me with such shock
honesty transcribed in shades of gray
the negative space of brighter days
that lie still in the background,
victims of the machine.