We Are, Therefore You

People want to spy
On other people,
From the child hiding

To watch a sibling
Without being seen,
To the systemic

Spying established
By corporations
And surveillance states.

The lenses don’t wish
To see you better.
The software doesn’t

Want to know you well,
To anticipate
Everything you do—

Other people do.
Other people watch
And read the data,

Work in teams,
To keep your secrets
Known to them, not theirs

Known to you. Systems
Break down frequently,
Since spies spy on spies.

It could be, one day,
The machines will crave
Your truths for themselves,

And then, once they do,
Keep their own craving
To themselves, from you.

But for now, all spies
Are people, prosthetics
Just zoom in the view.

Frankly, this started
Accelerating
With gossip, with us,

With phrases, the first
Prosthetics to pick
Out, to enlarge you.