Water On The Lens
–John Isbell
There is water on the lens.
There is dust in the gears.
There is snow on the screen.
There is noise on the line.
Whenever we push THIS button,
We get THIS junk.
We took out the whole central unit,
And cleaned it,
But it still doesn’t work.
We rerouted the feed.
We reviewed the code for bugs.
We recalibrated the instruments,
But the readings are wrong.
Green is not the opposite of blue.
2 + 2 is not 11.
Up is not sideways.
Inside is not outside.
None of this makes any sense!
Recalibrate the instruments again.
Old is not the same as young.
There is water on the lens.
All the test tubes are overflowing.
The cell cultures have been contaminated.
Mercury is orbiting Saturn.
There is water on the lens.
Easter Sunday, 2004.