Inscription for the Surface
of the Moon
by Robert Wood Lynn
Hello this is America we invented
human flight & getting bored
of going to the moon we had the idea
for the lightbulb & so it appeared
over all our heads like an anvil
then we invented the television
the infomercial clapping
it on & clapping it off
which means we invented asking
to be slapped during sex
& then the lights all coming
on we invented the supermarket
& having no place to stand
in one without being in the way
we invented stores so large
we had to invent cell phones
to find each other inside
we invented so many kinds
of embarrassment of disappearing invented
making a name a profile
invented deleting it & sure
we didn’t invent sadness but the blues
oughta count we invented sex
lying & lying about sex if we didn’t
invent sex there was a time
that rock & roll looked the same
in silhouette besides we invented
the telephone so tell us
who invented phone sex
say it again but slower
you can tell us we didn’t invent death
but we’re not gonna wait around
for the world’s most
careful bomb to disagree
so no we didn’t invent
perfection but a man in Texas
named Goodenough invented
the lithium-ion battery
we didn’t invent loneliness
only seeing ourselves
in the black screen after
our battery dies mid-conversation
we invented the internet
the direct message the slide to get there
we didn’t invent remembering
how another tastes
just how we tell them about it
desperate & immediate
the only part that counts
good enough or almost so
the way just looking
at this moon will have to do
Published on September 8, 2022