Terminator Too

By Tom Clark
Poetry, Wordsworth
wrote, will have no
easy time of it when
the discriminating

powers of the mind
are so blunted that
all voluntary
exertion dies, and

the general
public is reduced
to a state of near
savage torpor, morose,

stuporous, with
no attention span
whatsoever; nor will
the tranquil rustling

of the lyric, drowned out
by the heavy, dull
coagulation
of persons in cities,

where a uniformity
of occupations breeds
cravings for sensation
which hourly visual

communication of
instant intelligence
gratifies like crazy,
likely survive this age.

Copyright Credit: Tom Clark, “Terminator Too” from Light and Shade: New and Selected Poems.
Copyright � 2006 by Tom Clark. Used with the permission of Coffee House
Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
Source: Sleepwalker (Coffee House Press, 1992)