In the Days of Drones
“And it came to pass that each of them
Were given their unique mark, a familiar,
A spirit drone following on each action
Made by them, as one with their thoughts.”
There is no satisfactory term yet
for the size of these personal drones,
not nano-sized, micro nor mini.
They are not the size of the tiniest
domesticated animals, teacup Yorkies,
for instance, but indeed visible.
Let us say, somewhere between
a large dragonfly and a fit swamp frog.
These are, of course, non-technical terms.
Some hybridized ho-hum miracle
of organic-electronic-philosophical flesh,
most resemble agile, fragile insects.
They are very near indestructible.
They crawl. They fly. They hover and hide.
They do not belong to us. You belong
to them essentially, assigned
by the Office on Personal Safety.
It is not a choice. You turn fifteen,
you get a monitor drone. A third eye
some call them. There is no fanfare, no
happy party, no article in the local news
crawl, no culturally significant ritual
with drums, dancing.
No marching
across a stage, no bowing, transferring
of drones from one hand to another,
no mutilating of body parts, no gifts,
handshakes or hugs from an official,
no new names imagined by a shaman,
no vision quest, sweat lodge, no songs,
cards with cash. No cake. No ice cream.
You just wake up from a night’s sleep
and your drone is with you, in sleep mode
on your chest, having already finished
merging with your brain however it must.
Who, or what, exists on the other side
of these creatures, monitoring, recording,
watching, listening, or not, or whatever,
remains a great mystery to most of society.
But there are rumors. Always rumors.
About the Author: Larry D. Thacker’s poetry is in over 150 publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, and Illuminations Literary Magazine. His books include three full poetry collections, Drifting in Awe, Grave Robber Confessional, and Feasts of Evasion, two chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His fourth full poetry collection, Gateless Menagerie, is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com
Image Credit: The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 