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 Graham Hillard

 

Norwegian scientists have released a study concluding that a worm on a fishhook feels no

pain and neither does a lobster in boiling water.

 

                                                                                                                                Harper’s, April 2005

 

They have halved the quark

and halted time. 

They have created wind

artificially out of

matchsticks and lace,

their white coats

billowing in it,

glasses askew.

They have determined the rate

at which stones may be digested

when swallowed by wolves;

they have extended

the lives

of goldfish.

They have replaced the water in your toilets,

your right

contact lens. 

They have coordinated

our efforts overseas;

dinner is on the table.

There is no longer

any need for seltzer—

the tomato has been removed.

They have improved upon

our best efforts

at bookkeeping.

They ask that we ignore

the tapping of claws on metal.


Graham Hillard holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University.  His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Puerto del Sol,  New York Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, Boxcar Poetry Review, and elsewhere.  He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

 

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