<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="c-feature-hd" style="margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit;" class="">The End of Science Fiction</span></div><div class="c-feature-hd" style="margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class="c-feature-bd" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3;"><div class="isActive o-poem" data-view="PoemView" style="font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">This is not fantasy, this is our life.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">We are the characters<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">who have invaded the moon,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">who cannot stop their computers.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">We are the gods who can unmake<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">the world in seven days.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Both hands are stopped at noon.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">We are beginning to live forever,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">in lightweight, aluminum bodies<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">with numbers stamped on our backs.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">We dial our words like Muzak.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">We hear each other through water.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The genre is dead. Invent something new.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Invent a man and a woman<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">naked in a garden,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">invent a child that will save the world,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">a man who carries his father<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">out of a burning city.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Invent a spool of thread<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">that leads a hero to safety,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">invent an island on which he abandons<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">the woman who saved his life<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">with no loss of sleep over his betrayal.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Invent us as we were<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">before our bodies glittered<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">and we stopped bleeding:<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">invent a shepherd who kills a giant,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">a girl who grows into a tree,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">a woman who refuses to turn<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">her back on the past and is changed to salt,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">a boy who steals his brother’s birthright<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">and becomes the head of a nation.<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Invent real tears, hard love,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">slow-spoken, ancient words,<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">difficult as a child’s<br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">first steps across a room.</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Lisel Mueller</div><div class=""><span style="font-size: 25px;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div></div></div></body></html>