Shape of the Institution

I have the shape of the institution.

Each email address is a human.

They are known by their words and actions.

The whole wide world is just a fraction

of all I do not know. Expansion

and contraction, breathe in, out, meditation

on existence, non-existence, creation

and duration. I have no explanation

for fusion, fission, taxonomic relations

or artificial classification.

More I do not know: locomotion

by combustion, electron separation

and transportation via superconduction

which supports the idea of the unified nation.

What girls are like behind their eyes. Masturbation

a useful restraint on overpopulation.

The story of a life, my life, any life, cohesion

must be rationed, conjured, a fiction

about a vexed, tenacious town, its rail station

truck stop, high school, night spots, recreations

the temporary citizens enact visions

dream-like orations, ballets, conflagrations

to in the end receive in annals honorable mention

from family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, institutions.