4 July 2005 | Vol. 5, No. 2

pessimism? or robotics?

by TAO LIN

i am able to sit through an extremely funny movie

without making a noise or changing my facial expression

i am incapable of laughing without trying to laugh

i am never interested in anyone

unless they first show interest in me

and those things never work out anyway

i try not to think of myself as person

but a metal object, built suddenly by machines in one morning

something impossible to hurt emotionally

every once in a while i look in the steel mirror

and see the steel mirror