new from above/ground press: Civilization, by Dani Spinosa

Civilization
Dani Spinosa
$4

The English

By 1858 I declare war on my final opponent, the English, who have taken the rest of this continent. They have redcoats, and by now I have tanks.

I take Hull, Sheffield.

In 1866, I take London. It’s the last capital on the map, and for this game, that means I’ve won. It plays a victory cut scene. I can’t stop.

Just one more turn…

I take Manchester. I take Stoke-upon-Trent. I take Plymouth.

I take Preston. I take Bradford. England is defeated. I do not see it, but imagine the game plays out a sad cut scene of a sun setting.

There is no cut scene. The dial simply loads, lets me choose the next turn.  

I can’t stop. I start taking over city states: La Venta, Lisbon. I head towards more but now I have AT crews that are clobbering catapults. It feels pointless, wrong.

And Love has spread across this world, tiny turtles by each city’s name.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
June 2020
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Dani Spinosa is a poet and a scholar and an adjunct professor. She’s a co-founding editor of Gap Riot Press, the Managing Editor of the Electronic Literature Directory, and the author of two books: OO: Typewriter Poems (Invisible Publishing, 2020) and Anarchists in the Academy (U of Alberta Press, 2018). You can find her online at www.genericpronoun.com.

This is Spinosa’s second chapbook with above/ground press, after Glosas for Tired Eyes Volume 2 (2018).

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; in US, add $2; outside North America, add $5) to: rob mclennan, 2423 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa ON K1H 7M9. E-transfer or PayPal at at rob_mclennan (at) hotmail.com or the PayPal button at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com