by Rachel Coyne
Black Square Redux
After Kazimir Malevich
Let’s forget God & build machines to resurrect the dead
let’s resist the flesh & praise the third law of thermodynamics
repeat what Nietzsche said though let’s proceed with tenderness
All the cavalcade of -isms they did nothing but circle the abyss
I want icons to stay in bits tea leaves to reveal the Antichrist
Let’s re-create the Kingdom of Heaven here & not rely on faith
be cosmonauts & reanimate the space-strewn molecules of our
ancestors colonise planets when the Earth is full of revenants
All my love only now do I know was a struggle against entropy
I was a futurist when I prayed by your bed dreaming of machines
to save your brain’s neurones & synapses even though those zeros
exceed the stars in the universe machines to upload your genes
be able to trace & reattach each piece of ash scattered on a beach
What though if the dead want to stay dead like in Star Trek
Is a body that beams or teleports the same body or a clone
Would we get bored of ourselves after eons of living with our
faults & would we have to be cyborgs once our limbs wore out
If no babies were born would humans be human anymore
Patrick Wright is from Manchester, England, and has a poetry collection, Full Sight Of Her, published by Eyewear Publishing (2020). He has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the Open University. He is also currently finishing a PhD in Creative Writing, on the ekphrasis of modern and contemporary art, supervised by Jane Yeh and Siobhan Campbell. Twitter: @saturnineone.
Rachel Coyne is a writer and painter from Lindstrom, MN. She recently completed the YA ebook series The Antigone Ravynn Chronicles (New Rivers Press). Her previous books include Daughter, Have I Told You? (Henry Holt), The Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake (New Rivers). She is featured in the just released anthology Unbound: Composing Home, edited by Nayt Dundquist (New Rivers). Instagram and Twitter: imrachelcoyne