after 3 numbers itself nothing magnetic
nothing magic
the shelled chatter has also filled
your lungs apart
its grey between cost them
a caged product, shavings of warmth
in the room when you have one
I’m to transmit
no further ground deformed
coordinates that speak only of themselves
despite which
our push thoughts catch orbit
out of this twin-field and pivot
suffer ahead
with the talked over, wrestled down
at last
you are one of us
are not one of us
This poem “Alpha Effect” originally appeared in Canadian Literature 212 (Spring 2012): 67.
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