Poems by Dennis Janke

The Outside Agents were mind training again.
They came inside to a room that does not exist.
They were very observant, nothing
could escape their attention. They began to think.
“First you come to a room that does not exist.”
This always happens when you go in,
especially when you add thinking to the mix.
You enter. The key is time.
Time does not exist, but it is
created by entering. So is the room.
“Become aware of the moment of entry,” they thought.
This moment is in a room where time now exists.
The thinking went on deep
inside this room by the Outside Agents.
Their world which contained time was larger
than the other, the one without it.
Clearly they could be magnanimous
and spare a few minutes.
It would be a relief to not have to think all the time.
All this training was wearing them down.
There was a grinding of gears,
thinking was coming to a halt.
“Does time stop when thinking does?”
That was their final thought.
They couldn’t come to a satisfactory conclusion.
The sparks of resistance flared into action.
Soon the room was cloudy with smoky thought.
Gagging and coughing, the Agents of O staggered
out of the choking room
which vanished
immediately.