Linear Thought

It starts with one thing
and leads to another.
It starts here, ends there
inexorably.  It bridges
surely from one to another.

It does such a boring,
steady thing. 

It makes no bones about
its intent.  It goes —
that’s how it was made.

It misses everything
of importance.

It puts step on step
and gathers moss
after gathering moss
even as it rolls.
It aims always straight ahead
on the easy path.

The people who pushed it
believe they’ve made
a revolution
simply because some things
they didn’t like were crushed
along the way.

But look —
here’s point A,
there’s point B.
In between is the same kind of flattening
that has always been;
look away from the trail and you’ll see
the same lovely, untouched,
unremarked things
to which no one ever pays
the slightest
attention.