Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Alejandro Escudé

Fancy Bear

we sit in quiet cafes our laptops gravestones

zeroes and ones a fiberoptic rope

to hang us on the shores of Styx

every college degree a spelling degree

every affordable car a lemon with another logo

a digital box to type in one’s password

because you can’t be sure what was released

into the world’s mesh on camera you see the woman

step up to the dock’s edge you hear the gun-toting teen

call the police to report a gun and the Russians

you know they listen and we can all sense

the death of politics the way it sneers

too far left or right how there’s no way

to write the word internet without sounding ancient

but it’s too late to learn Python Java or Go

to pursue Fancy Bear with its red candy suit

and its viral songs electric claws ready

to bite into your chest bash your skull in

Alejandro Escudé

Alejandro Escudé’s first book of poems, My Earthbound Eye, was published in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.