Such Knowledge

Michael Helsem

May 25, 2022

1.
things that should not be counted
sunsets witnessed
times making love

children killed by gunfire

2.
eagerness, each eager in their own way
to learn the forms of this planet
all its sights smells & tastes

suddenly this learning
comes to an end

some other child
disregarded, spurned, abandoned
given nothing but a stream of lies
& access to guns oh yes
access to guns
rooms full of guns
whole warehouses full of guns
guns guns guns

crude pictures of power
proven
when the trigger’s pulled
this sad child wanted that power
that damnable lie

& one other scene
though you & i can’t go there
in the politician’s office
dark wood panelled
whiskey cabinet
plenty of affordances

no need to hide it

no money moves from hand to hand
it is only
on computer records
that we see
mere ones & zeroes
zeroes & ones

where the real evil lives

3.
who can describe
those charged few minutes
last of someone’s life

by the sounds a gun makes
its flash & smell
or the sounds of frightened humans

who know
they are going to die

not to be told
even by survivors
more stone than knowledge
more dense than stone
a taste perhaps

what a dead star holds in its secret heart

4.
should we make the Earth a factory
for such knowledge

Michael Helsem was born in 1958. Shortly afterward, fish fell from the sky.