Work Text:
Office light hum over polished desk,
sealed envelope on blank blotter,
ink still damp on classified order.
Gloved hand traces each careful line,
cold script blessing calculated ruin,
budget line wrapped around broken bone.
Door without name in concrete corridor,
badge against scanner, silent green pulse,
elevator swallowing all hesitation.
Century wheel turn, contract never lapse.
Plague-cart century:
bread wagon roll through cobbled alleys,
barrels of grain under canvas tarps,
bolts of cloth stacked like winter mercy.
Fleas dream inside woven threads,
fever ride hidden in rough wool,
cordon widen, graveyard spill outward.
Ledger balance tilt toward victory,
cathedral bells applaud infection.
Harvest-starved century:
black soil crack under salt wind,
root crop collapse into sour mush.
Granaries brim behind locked timber,
harbor crane swing over quiet bay,
cargo ships heavy with survival
slide past ribs counting in doorways.
Custom-house clerk stamp each manifest,
ink deny hunger any testimony.
Bullet-screamed century:
mud trench churn under iron hail,
lungs bloom red in gas-thick dawn.
Factory siren praise new armament,
assembly line forge shrapnel galaxies.
Steel helmets rise, vanish, rise, vanish,
oath-bound boots climb from transport
toward coordinates circled in blue pencil.
Signal tower blink coded assent,
wireless static cover soft last breaths.
Shadow-theater century:
conference room glow with projections,
maps rebrand conquest as relief.
Island jungle burn on white screen,
valley village flatten under euphemism.
Pilot seat cradle remote distance,
crosshair dance above grainy rooftops,
cursor kiss copper-roofed schoolyard,
flash erase chalk from shattered blackboard.
Press release rename corpses as numbers,
graph smooth massacre into margin of error.
Experiment century braided through all:
lab window fog over caged lungs,
powder drift across unmasked faces,
serum swirl in glass for chosen bodies,
control group shackled to untreated night.
Clipboard tick down vanished pulses,
flag outside facility flutter with pride,
anthem rise over refrigerated drawers.
Every decade offer fresh theater:
bread riot pacified by rubber rounds,
rubber round split skin like old coin.
Concrete plaza scrub before sunrise,
red stream vanish into municipal drain.
Election poster promise clean hands,
ink on smiling mouth hide old orders.
Overseas proxy broadcast new anthem,
old rifle stock cradle young shoulder.
Obedience receive many uniforms:
monk’s robe, merchant’s coat, courtier’s lace,
general’s braid, analyst’s keycard,
lab coat, law degree, tailored suit.
Each garment carry secret holster,
hidden drawer, unlocked back door,
access code to unlit basement.
Instrument remain simple:
stamp, pipeline, embargo, rumor,
patent, tariff, border, blacklist,
needle, warhead, treaty, silence.
No single name endure,
only process, only office,
only everlasting paperwork of erasure.
Night shift return to unmarked apartment,
tie loosen over kitchen chair,
sink whisper with running water,
mirror hold unasked questions.
Radio murmur about distant disaster,
call-in host praise decisive action,
markets open strong in morning.
Dawn repaint window in neutral colors.
Mail slot cough out fresh directives.
Gloved hand reach, accept new envelope.
History turn, contract never lapse.