the end of history

empty dirt vista
I turn to her
she asks how did 

we get here? I say
I think I’m asleep 
dreaming she says 

she thought that 
too then a fierce 
wind all is gray 

dust the monkey 
yells cut! he tells 
the camera-man

they have captured
reality truly next
thing I know I’m

here face down in 
the water washing
ashore on a sand-

bar she is fetal
naked the monkey
kneels over camera-

man’s corpse like an 
alter-boy weeping 
she yells shut-up

you dirty little ape! 
the monkey howls
bites her leg she

crawls to one end
of the sandbar I
to the other all is

water the monkey—
television actor now
director of acclaimed 

historical dramas
lamenting camera-
man was the Da Vinci 

of modernity I’m
thinking Da Vinci? 
yeah the guy who 

never finished 
anything I ask how 
did we get here? 

she says she must 
be asleep dreaming
I’m thinking yes that 

must be all there
is to it—simply 
asleep dreaming