I.- Systems Of Commerce

Snow falls in February

and people on their way to work

crash their cars,

choking systems of commerce.

It's a good thing mag chloride

(not just good for making tofu)

stopped the metal monster

from sliding across the median.

Unprepared and unready

for the thing February is known for.

What did you expect, I told her

it snows and people die.

We haven't evolved past dying,

yet.

She doesn't care,

she just walked across the courtyard,

picking up after her dog.

They'll give you a ticket you know.

She didn't hear a word I said to her,

and she should have been paying attention, too.

But she thinks she knows it all.

And what do I know? She could be God,

we all could 

and she's never convinced me of anything less.

Inside the apartment building, 

she keeps a candle lit.

The landlord doesn't know,

and never will. They can't take it away from me.

Remember the dorm? Remember the no candle rule?

It's inhuman to make man live without fire.

The first technology.

Take away my cell phone, then. My Macbook.

They run my life. 

I suppose we've always

centered our lives around our newest technology,

she said, rubbing her hands together.

She blew the candle out,

turned off the computer, and her cell phone.

Left the bed, naked, without covering herself.