Time Out of Joint: Fragments of Poetry Discovered by an Archaeology of the Future

Over the course of my studies (concerning the history of what has happened after the disappearance of reality), I happened upon broken fragments of poetry which, rather than existing as digitized remnants, were actually written on a sort of parchment. Although the entirety of a villanelle was preserved, the vast majority of the pages were torn and badly damaged. I nonetheless produce here a clean transcription of the full lines I was able to salvage. The titles are my choice; the fragments themselves appear to date from the year 2025.

Ode to the Vape
….After the end of cigarettes comes the ultimate exhale:
Simulation of smoking by means of a colorful meerschaum,
Puffs of clouds synthetic as acid rain or acrylic,
Inhalations like gasps of a ghost or a mannequin breathing,
Tinctures and flavors like “Tropical Rainbow Blast to the Past.” A
Couple of hits and you know you won’t last without stopping to wonder
If (and only if) someone ran off with smoke like a thief in the
Night. This pen is mightier than the sword of a knight or
Liege, and so pleasing the hit when it simply allows me my leisure….

Death After Love
….I guess, that one time, we made out —
When neither of us thought to think.
You never did well in a crowd.
I’m thirty going on extinct.

A breakup here, a rupture there,
We’ve seen it all too many times.
I run my fingers through your hair.
There’s something timeworn in your eyes….

Age
…The museum of art
Wrinkled grimace so cold.
Fifteen bucks for the kids,
Twenty bucks for the old.

Little tyke with a pen
Draws a picture of cheer
While I’m writing a poem
Which will soon disappear….

Death of God
….We don’t need
To tear it all to shreds:
Government
Is shutdown by itself.
“Father why
Have you forsaken me”:
Even God
Himself is atheist….

Wedding Regrets: A Villanelle
You’re really gorgeous-looking in that gown,
But I don’t think you really notice me.
I couldn’t help myself, I had to frown.

I think tonight that we should go to town,
And maybe somewhere secret we could meet.
You’re really gorgeous-looking in that gown.

But when you ditched, it kinda got me down.
I guess I’ll wander lonesome street to street.
I couldn’t help myself, I had to frown.

But right when I was almost ‘bout to drown
In tears, you texted back a heartfelt note.
You’re really gorgeous-looking in that gown.

I hope that I’m not looking like a clown,
But why on earth have you not messaged me?
I couldn’t help myself, I had to frown.

Yet now upon your head I place a crown,
We married on a perfect wedding day.
You’re really gorgeous-looking in that gown.
I couldn’t help myself, I had to frown.