Non-explosive Demolition Agent

I bored holes for months
pulled core samples to test
what we were made of and discovered
slow metamorphisms had occurred while I wasn’t paying attention

I knew what began as exploratory research could turn
suddenly into a mad rush for the rare
but there was no way to put back what I’d withdrawn

I worried over the emptiness
I thought I could shore up the gaps
become liquid and pour myself back into what lacked

I’m sorry
I didn’t know my desire would keep expanding
outward and outward and forever outward

—Erin Bedford

Seed: “Outward and outward and forever outward”

Source: “Song of Myself, 45,” by Walt Whitman

Erin Bedford is a writer who has had work published in Flash Fiction Magazine, The Temz Review, William Patterson University’s Map Literary, Train: a poetry journal & GUEST. Follow her on Twitter or visit her website to learn more.