The Extinction List

we're already lined up—more or less. it looks as though we're already booked on the extinction list

hey!—didn’t you know?— you re next or as close to next as you can get on the extinction list

we're all lined up from forgotten years ago— all lined up—-spoiling to be next— on the extinction list.

the real horror comes when our brain dish is turned upside down and all the blood runs cold but runs and runs colder and colder when we know that we may not be exactly next but that we are marked on the extinction list—

not necessarily prominently marked— rather a humdrumeveryday death zone notched already on the extinction list

when there is no one left to read this poem we shall have been deleted

and no on will miss us from the extinction list.