Our first thought: the shots were staged,
erasing the day’s news and memes.
Flip the script, turn the page.
Distract from wars, inflation, climate change,
grift, dementia, les dossiers d’Epstein.
Our first thought: the shots were staged.
Keep the masses entertained.
Let them eat vape and binge TV.
Flip the script, turn the page.
In late-stage cannibalism, feed rage
into the insatiable bigotry machine.
Our first thought: the shots were staged.
What matters not is how it plays
in real life but on the screen.
Flip the script, turn the page.
Humans caged, history razed.
All the world’s a crime scene.
Our first thought: the shots were staged.
Flip off the script, burn the page.
Erin Murphy's most recent books are Human Resources, Mother as Conjunction: Lyric Essays, and Fluent in Blue, winner of the 2025 American Book Fest Best Book Award in Poetry. Swoon: New and Selected Poems is forthcoming in June.
