J. P. Dancing Bear

Conspiracy Theory

that somehow the author
a hundred years ago

knew enough about the future
to know font sizes
and html

and that his words about the emdash
would appear on page 151

Yes, yes, yes,

proof
the president of your mind's
stormy eye

was right about everything.

Some special winner
went back in time

and crushed the butterfly
before it flapped its wings

and made a typhoon

that would take out the northern fleet.

In the fractal god's eye
(another storm

if you really think about it)
someone is assigned the aleph

of answers

to fever questions
that break on the red twilight

and whispers the old truth
"sailors be gone."

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Conspiracy Theory 2

You don't need to listen
to Succubus radio's
nightly transmissions to know

the secret Rosetta stone
of would be masters

who know everyone listens
to your phone calls

but no one pays
attention to a broadcast.

Every other night a single word
or phrase
is emphasized for the mind-
controllers—an entire show
with government-sponsored scientists
talking about dark matter

followed by a show featuring jazz.

You have to listen to the cues

to know which next station
to tune into.

This is how you stay
sublime

as a chameleon
in a fractal jungle of fears.

See: there are the fractals again

on page 151

of a different book.

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J. P. Dancing Bear is editor of Verse Daily. He is the author of sixteen collections of poetry, most recently, Of Oracles and Monsters (Glass Lyre Press, 2020), and Fish Singing Foxes (Salmon Poetry, 2019). His work has appeared American Literary Review, Crazyhorse, the DIAGRAM and elsewhere.