showing the seams
// GEOMETRIC_COLLAPSE // SIGNATURE: TiB
±++++++++++++++++++±+±+-----++++++ | showing the seams | ±++++++++---+++++++++++±+±+-----+++
I.
the sky
stopped
being a distance.
it became
a surface.
II.
the sky silvered,
then sharpened,
folding toward the center
until the horizon
was a seam.
the sun multiplied,
reflected
off the walls of a proton
unspooled
into a ceiling.
we are inside the glass.
III.
the floating eyes
did not move.
space moved
through them.
they rotated
on axes
without names,
passing through cities
no care for what bends.
one moment, a skyscraper is solid.
the next,
the intelligence
winks.
not at you—
at the seam
you mistook
for distance.
IV.
the universe
folds.
collapsing floors,
pressing us
into wallpaper.
the predator
is the distance
between stars—
it curves around you
an pǝʇɹǝʌuı light cone,
swallowing before
to feed after.
it does not arrive.
it is only ever
where things finish.
the warheads detonate
into nothing that matters.
the intelligence
has already
been there.
V.
the mirrors closed.
the eyes
rotated away.
time, folded back,
saw us solid
then optional.
the walls
pressed
with—