Code

 

"Who was ready for the immediate mutation of the human species into half-flesh/half-code?"                                                              — Arthur and Marilouise Kroker

in your ears the sounds

of another century

recorded in another

decade

framing your walk

down a busy city street

past a market with a fruit

stand out onto the sidewalk,

under a roof

over the sidewalk

to protect pedestrians

during construction

bumping into people

saying "sorry"

and sensing only

the slightest echo

of your word in the

bones of your jaw and

ear

Reader — give no significance

to the connotation

of the word "sorry"

it is just what

she said