Electricity

I SAT WITH ELECTRODES

strapped like quarters
to either side of my temples,
and the world lit up,
all the grayness wiped away,
and for seconds I saw years.
Let me explain: I saw everything—
buildings shooting up
into the air, skylines
blossoming and wilting,
the whole cycle running
over and over and over:
blueprints to rubble,
and back again; castles, cars,
and kings built up, brought down.
Fifteen seconds.
There were thousands
of aggregate voices
joined in cacophony
but I heard every one
and their harmonies
and their contradictions
and their swarm.