I dreamt of a day
emptied of all beauty
human beings had banned

autonomy --crucified as a criminal
difference --blended as a flat smoothie
risk --quarantined as a leper
the divine --dubbed as a dunce
science --married as the state religion
journalism --spinning on the web

so, humans were screen-reeducated 
to march in lockstep

the same direction, wearing
the same expressions having 
the same politics sporting
the same clothes thinking 
the same thoughts saying
the exact words listening to
the same insipid music

many allowed themselves to be enhanced
by the machine because--

they feared to dance free like the harlequin
they feared to be correct if others were wrong 
they feared to be light if others were dark
they feared to be different because
they feared  --The Big Watching It
& they longed to belong 

--the reign of Machinal had arrived
& the bastard would never allow 
an authentic human voice
& the poetry died too --unless sanctioned
by the technocratic state

engineered device-enhanced living 
became the new hope for utopia
& the cleansed human leap

our dark prayers were finally answered
I awoke,
and wrote this down in May 2007