The Writer Pays Attention

More of a collagist than a writer,
The world only adds, never erases,
Change harnessing paradox in traces.

If all you ever do is add, you change
And, at a minimum, erase the way
The world was before you added to it.

Since you can’t undo the adding, that world
Has vanished, never to exist again.
The collagist knows this and is obsessed

With obliteration by addition,
The world’s inability to be rid
Of itself by changing itself, adding

And burying, overlapping, adding—
It’s meaningful, if you pay attention.