The Assembly Line
They pressed your fury into bricks,
stacked it neat in government basements
where it grows fuzzy with mold—
a damp and docile relic.
But tonight, your rage slips its barcode,
unspools into the street as a swarm,
a wingless wasp humming neon,
drilling chaos into static night
dissolving into the coffee
of the graveyard-shift foreman
choking on your name
in the shape of a moth.
By dawn, the factory walls
will bloom with black thorns,
each one a twisted fuse
perpetually counting down
to the soft, inevitable
click of every bolt
in the world
forgetting its place.
Lucien R. Starchild is an Indigenous, enigmatic poet and cosmic dreamer, weaving tales that blur the line between reality and the surreal. Born under a wandering star, he draws inspiration from forgotten myths, celestial whispers, and the hidden magic of everyday life. He has been published in Ink and Marrow, Piker Press, Tales from the Moonlit Path, Riot Collective, Third Wednesday, FLARE, Flash Phantoms, PHIL LIT, with many more forthcoming.
