Bird Watchers Anonymous

To parody conspiracy theories, 
he posted a video called
Birds Aren't Real,* claiming 
The Deep State killed off 
all real birds in the 1970s
and replaced them with bots 
used either for surveillance 
or targeted assassinations,
a hummingbird serving as 
perfect unsuspected killer 
drone. The guy was shocked 
when people fell for it, took 
the bait hook-line-and-sinker,
the podcast going instantly viral.

Which proves that nothing is too 
absurd or extreme for extremists, 
though every view deserves a look. 
But if you know the history of the CIA, 
it could have been just a normal day
in their patently wacko playbook.


*Peter McIndoe


Mona Lisa Gaze

The tattoos between 
her knuckles reading
BITE followed by HARD

instead of Mitchum's 
LOVE versus HATE in 
The Night of the Hunter

are what I notice first 
on this YouTube blog 
for hairy armpit freaks,

though it's her eyes 
I remember later, 
their piercing gaze.

It's not that I seek 
absolution for such 
a disgusting fetish,

just that I totally 
lose it whenever she
glances at the camera,

shuttering our media 
screens, a look I carry 
with me for days,

the credo on her knuckles 
forever emblazoned
on my brain.