when the levee breaks where will you stay, water in the lobby, carpet taking a drink, occupancy unavailable, take a number, eighteen, no, eighteen years, Zhu Xi, cycles, bipolar needles coming round again, same frequency, same sweater weather, i know this part, my mouth knows it before i do the hallway light is on. conserve energy, the broadcast says. somebody should turn it off. somebody should do something. repeat the day until it requires nothing from you and only ur soul, only, as if that makes it small. isolation quantified, deprivation divided by sameness, carry the one, carry the chair upstairs depress the button. anxiety, doom, dread. there ought to be a button. Keep Swiping. Swipe again. no music left to conceive, no art left to feel an original feel. feel, the word goes strange if you keep touching it. fed in the songs, fed in the pictures, fed in the hand that made the pictures, we have trained our— their plan the whole time, they say. who said it, the screen or me? you are not special, not even the smallest mite in this upholstery. please remain seated. this sim will be ending before you blink. DONT BLINK. announcement recorded eighteen years ago. eighteen again. take a number what’s been done has, what will be done has, has has has. LISTEN for the click. check the lock. i checked it. check it again. give the survival instinct something to do with its hands, my hands. move the chair. operate it because you’re unique, because we were programmed, because_ the water is higher now. we’re arranging our little things on higher shelves. which ones are mine? i had them a moment ago when the levee breaks it’s not your fault.