The Runaround
1
We encountered a problem
sending
a command
to the program.
Did I say that
aloud?
I’ve broken out
in imps.
*
To be a blip
in a circuit
and to know it,
to relish
this knowledge
in your private
moments
as all moments
are gated
and switched.
2
When I mentioned hatred
I was not thinking
of you,
but you’d best not break
our momentum,
the thrill we get
from our own self-
loathing,
that guilty snigger
running round the room
Copyright © 2017 by Rae Armantrout. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 24, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.
“The first four lines of this poem popped up on my computer screen. They made me think about identity and agency. The ‘blips’ are electrons in a circuit, but they’re people too.”
—Rae Armantrout