Happens There, Felt Here... Maybe

Do you remember the butterfly
Who, by flapping its wings in San Francisco
Caused the weather to change in New York?
He never existed.

And the weather ?
It changed because the butterfly never existed,
And the effect of the falling coconut
Was not offset by the never existent butterfly.

A recent problem in Greece
Threatened all financial holdings,
In the world where the butterfly exists,
And there went your new mortgage.

We have moved, irretrievably
Beyond apparent events
Into the state of Alice,
Where gravity is suspended.

“Up” and “down” are irrelevant.
Only “now” remains,
And it suffers continual abuse
At the hands of the technology.

The fastest machine moves first
Anticipating all the other machines,
Causing a figurative butterfly
To change the forecasted weather in New York.

It is enough to signal
That the butterfly may exist,
And therefor it will rain in New York,
Thereby increasing the value of an umbrella manufacturer’s business...

But only for an instant.
If the first/fastest machine has created the figurative butterfly
Will it not pounce on those late buyers,
Sell short and gain when the butterfly is found to be missing?
It is not enough to say we are hopelessly interconnected.
Rather, we are slaves to the machine that recognizes
Our imperfect awareness of the tangled web,
And tells us tales that we believe and follow.