You’re Just the Kind of Thing That Might Have Been

Sure, if you’re vague, you can be grave
As Aristotle describing
The differences between poems
And history written in verse.

These days, the singularity
Sits on the other foot—details
Are serious, philosophy
Is weak tea compared to science,

And what-might-have-been’s for fictions
Scrawled over screens and white spaces.
Gravity settles in the grave,
After the details stop pulsing.

What can you say if this city
Refuses your general rules?
You can smile. This city will die
Like all else, but not before you.