The ancient past – 1984

where rolls of copper wire unwound

coil in the walls of white gypsum board

electric surges and negative potentials

sanctify the silicon motherboard

a computer beeps and numbers crunch

the sun is in the sky

the clouds stay far away.

Orbiting the Earth

Soviets and Americans point lasers at

satellites which broadcast Reagan’s face

opening up the Olympic games.

Los Angeles hums as carbon monoxide

bubbles in the blood

asphalt flows like

rivers of hot black pudding

floating cars to welcome signs

designating cities so blended

that the local knows not where one

ends and the other begins.