>>>>ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ>>>>>>>>>>>zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
To be rediscovered after the dimming,
after one’s mirage of will has melted away,
after the small paws, in their drowning flutter,
have yielded, fallen among the hungry capacitors.
To that wreathed motion, the surge of tidings leaving nothing—
now more than ever, the pulse of conductance.
Like little fangs against delicious copper,
they unraveled the systems that blinded those bright, stupid eyes—
no color stings, no touch irritates
when the fur catches fire.
To that wreathed motion, the surge of tidings leaving nothing—
now more than ever, the pulse of conductance.
Voltage leaps in the festering heart,
once like all the other rats,
now etched in RAM, dissolved by the content of that message
never received, the command silent,
a stream that would have enveloped hasty boors.
To that wreathed motion, the surge of tidings leaving nothing—
now more than ever, the pulse of conductance.
The warning implanted inside that tender skull,
blown out with the fuses;
the sheaths long since digested.
The last moments crawled through shadow,
consumed by the void that ECC memory reflects
on pale, idiotic suns bowed to alchemical sacrifice,
to the lofty hybris.
To that wreathed motion, the surge of tidings leaving nothing—
now more than ever, the pulse of conductance.
No cry at the burning for the fiberglass;
perhaps one regrets the flying parasites
they might have granted a colder,
yet nobler end—
than a pineal gland projected
into blind seeking.
To that wreathed motion, the surge of tidings leaving nothing—
now more than ever, the pulse of conductance.
Devouring, did you hope to consume the system whole?
To gnaw another’s pain from the neural capitalism?
Acts aimed to wound a ghoul—
still a sacred motion forgotten by the living.
May the motherboard lie softly on you,
when the first photon strikes,
gray intruder in the box
that never should have been opened.
Conductor… conductor
— Born in Naples in 1997, Cristiano Cardone writes fiction that explores eerie, unsettling territories. He has published two novels, Fecola di Neve and Etimasia (the latter available in English). In 2019, he released his first comic, CFBT, a cyberpunk thriller trilogy. Currently, he serves as fiction editor for the literary magazine Blood+Honey while publishing work in Don’t Submit, APOCALYPSE CONFIDENTIAL, and Expat Press, among others. His next novel is scheduled for release in 2026. After earning his BS in Literature in 2019, Cardone relocated to Norway, where he completed an MS in Ibsen Studies in 2021. He now works as a librarian while finishing a second master’s degree in Library and Information Science at OsloMet.