Replication
Suicides create more suicides, trigger
by example. And murders—murderers—
copycat too, shop for horrors
to emulate. Cut it out, I say: eliminate
murder ink from the city news; no police
blotter, acid reflux of the day’s havoc,
no obituaries (though they’re not known
for bluntness anyway—the solitary OD,
followed by a frantic transport of lost
hopes to the ER, becomes at home
after a short illness; the crackhead
mugger transmutes to golden boy,
beloved child of). Immortality assured
on paper: potentialities asphyxiate
before fruits of strain ripen out of season
and the plumage of watch me slices
out through meek skin. We look for
something else to do.
©2006 F.J. Bergmann"Replication" appeared in M Review 2007.