Necessity Defense of Institutional Memory

So the free may remain free
     say the nightmare is
     the dream
so we are preserved
     he who believes takes a life
so a life may be saved
     the girl becomes an object
so the greatest devastation occurs
     let go her fingers    their slim cleave
so I may be replaced
by a machine    which in its violence    behaves
more like me
     the longer you live    the more these lies
     come alive
so the past splits in two:
     one stays in the past and dies
one past shapeshifts    walks with you.

CAMILLE RANKINE