They Wait
by Marge Simon
Time is an exclusive dream
you’ve paid in full to enjoy
like that Avatar Wifi 14
with all the trappings.
Plugged into holo, you’re there
or you were there before
the collection agency
took it all away, even
that part that was human.
In this Debtor’s Prison,
nobody gets a second chance;
a second time to fear,
for this is how it is,
holding one another,
seeing your lover’s skin pale,
knowing the last beat
of your hearts.
_______________
Marge Simon‘s works appear in publications such as Strange Horizons, Niteblade, DailySF Magazine, Pedestal, microcosms, and Dreams & Nightmares. She edits a column for the HWA Newsletter, “Blood & Spades: Poets of the Dark Side,” and serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees. She won the Strange Horizons Readers Choice Award in 2010, the Bram Stoker Award™ for Superior Work in Poetry, Vectors: A Week in the Death of a Planet, Dark Regions Press, 2008, and the Rhysling Award for “Variants of the Obsolete” in 1996. New poetry collections in 2011: Unearthly Delights (self illustrated in color), Sam’s Dot Publications, The Mad Hattery (art by Sandy DeLuca), Electrik Milk Bath Press, both made the Final Ballot for the 2011 Bram Stoker. She is a Member of HWA, SFWA, & SFPA. More at: www.margesimon.com
