Rather More Electrical Than Ethical
an erasure of Joan Didion’s “The White Album,” sections 1-3
I did no good works but
I recognized my name.
I read the transcript several times.
I lived
in a world of people.
I recognized dice theory,
blessing each crystal,
each physical chill.
My obsessive-compulsive devices
seemed to want to enlist me,
missionaries of apocalyptic sex.
There were masses of wires,
blinking electronic circuitry.
Lord Lord Lord.
I counted the control knobs.
I did not see it through.
BE SPIRITUAL NO MORE MECHANICAL
after a roadside church sign seen in New Orleans
Be spiritual no more mechanical.
Be spiritual—no more mechanical.
Be spiritual—no, more mechanical.
Be spiritual. No, more: mechanical.
Be spiritual? No. More mechanical.
Be more mechanical, no spiritual.
Be mechanical, spirit; you’ll know more.
No, mechanical spirit. You’ll be more.
I can call me: be spiritual no more.
I can be no more spiritual. Call me.
Spirit me no more; I can be called.
I spirit you all & call no more.
No spear can be ritual; call me more I.
Bemourn o spirit mechanical.
Ritual, I call: Be no more.
Ellie Black is a PhD student in Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi, where she also received her MFA. Winner of the 2023 Pinch Literary Award in Poetry, she has published poems in Mississippi Review, Poetry Online, The Offing, Black Warrior Review, DIAGRAM, Best New Poets, and elsewhere.