This is the new age of death before lunchtime,
of memes as motive, conspiracy as truth,
and school shootings as afterthought.
The grassy knoll is now on the roof.
We trace the lone wolf through timestamps
and text messages but end up at
the beginning of the riddle.
We look to the end when
the answer is in the middle.

This is the new age of ageless enigmas,
of coded perversion and denial as bliss.
There is a body of a woman in front of us
and she holds the answers we’re looking for.
She has no head and no limbs as a reminder
that there is more to life than having everything.
The new ballroom at the White House is under construction.

This is the new age of love in dismemberment,
of dead teenagers in trunks and starvation
and murder as prelude to the Promised Land.
The dead are cannibalized through livestreams.
Our leaders drink young blood.
Sanctity is a memory and ritual is political.
There are guns aimed at our heads and we
don’t know when they’ll fire.

This is the new age.
They speak of end times, but we’re at the beginning.