Tuesday Poem: the asterisk machine by bill manhire (digital poem)

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I lived with bill's asterisks for at least a year after I downloaded his screen saver. There's something nonchalant at first about the flipping, disappearing, reappearing, waving crosses, but  they soon come to seem regimented, formal, driven by some external pattern or command. Like soldiers on parade.

Then there's the asterisk, which at first seems unpredictable, a little flippant, playful even. But it's not that at all. If you look carefully, you'll see it stays in the same place: disappears behind the crosses, then reappears alternately. It seems exposed and then captive, and at the same time it is ineluctable.