Giving in to the Beast

The lifeless machine sticks out its metal tongue-
forked and hissing with electrical lies
it darts toward me, pulsating with desire,
snapping into my frayed synapses,
and I am captured prey.

The visions are infinite and multitudinous-
anything my heart (or lust) desires
manifests in the blink of an eye
as fingers click and tap away
at plastic death appendages
made wireless now so the swamp
of electromagnetic interference
will never lose the unholy war it wages
against the pure organic consciousness
of the numbed collective mind.

The Beast grows stronger by the second,
sucking away the attention span
of a fledgling generation.
The children stand no chance
as the spiraling cascade toward zombification
intensifies in its rush to reach an exponential flashpoint
and bring about the zero-point singularity.

I should know better, should have more sense,
yet the intoxicating allure of data and information
draws me in like a fat worm on the hook.
I enter seeking knowledge and higher wisdom
yet somehow wind up staring dumbly
into the dark oblivion of dancing cats and idol gossip.

There is no hope, the screen seems to say,
as the pop-up ads methodically go about their dirty work,
hypnotically inducing me deeper into the trance.
You are part of the system now… resistance is futile …
just click the like button and share (spread) the damn file (virus)-
left, right, left, right, forward marching into the black hole.

Scott Thomas Outlar survived both the primordial fire and the cataclysmic flood - now he dances in celebration while waiting on the next round of chaos to commence. Otherwise, he lives a relatively simple life, flowing and fluxing with the River Tao, laughing at life's existential nature, and writing prose-fusion poetry dedicated to the Phoenix Generation. His work has appeared recently in venues such as Underground Books, Dead Snakes, Dissident Voice, Halcyon Magazine, and Black Mirror Magazine. Scott can be reached at 17Numa@gmail.com.

Find more by Scott Thomas Outlar in the Author Index.

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