Sprawl Poem by Justin Tang

the city sprawls across a dirt heap of earth
a glistening parasite bearing metal teeth
laid out on the desk of a high school biology class
cars cutting lines across it
cars crashing and popping like failing organs

i don’t know what this is lying in front of me
it seems dead and at the same time alive

i don’t know what it is towering above me
it is a skyscraping question
asking about my identity
about my “home”
either the existence of “home”
or the constant creation and redefining of
“home”

we find ourselves somewhere in the midst of this sprawl,
this web of countless predators and prey
which is pointless to google
impossible to mapquest
because “a picture is worth a thousand words”
and because words are another network
another “nervous” system
another web we weave
another net laid out for us
more links on our chains
like the modernist dream and trap of attempting representation