Dream Technology

The universe is numerose.
Once you count, you can’t stop.
All night your dreams torment you

With uninvented tech—
Tools for counting more stars
Than atoms knew existed.

It’s a deliberate strategy,
You think. It’s a simulation,
Made to never exactly repeat.

But what could everything
Be so anxious to simulate?
You wake up and it’s smoky,

And unhealthy haze hides the sky,
And somewhere machines count for you
Or estimate at least how many

Particular particulates it takes
To climb into your alveoli,
To clog endless counting of stars.