Carmen Is Thin

How will any one

Person stay ahead

Of the avalanche

Of eight billion

Other persons yoked

By algorithms?

Twenty years ago,

One could find a book

Called Cabinet of

Curiosities,

And that title could

Shimmer, exotic.

Now op-ed writers

And childrens’ stories

Drop Wunderkammer

Casually, as if

The idea itself’s

Become a knick-knack.

All ideas, now, are

Knick-knacks, curios,

Badges to wear, memes.

There are no more words

That stump anyone

With a decent phone.

Better to be plain,

Children—not to get

Bauhaus about it,

But ornate diction’s

More plebeian now

Than it’s ever been.