sometimes
looking at words
on a page
or a screen

there's some mysterious interplay
between the two-dimensionality
of words on a flat plane
and the three-dimensionality
underlying it all

visually deceiving
as if the space
behind the words
is both
an infinite abyss
an undetectable, immeasurable void
   and
a flat formless surface

it's both
   and
it's neither


and somehow
typing on a flat-(ish) keyboard
but pushing buttons
down
into a third dimension
makes the words
appearing on the screen
seem almost 3D themselves
in a connected sort of way
plunging
into the white void
of the blank screen

the keystrokes feel deeper
than i think they really are
especially when i stare at the screen
and let the fingers fly

what sort of illusion is this?!


or are the words
actually
the missing link
that let us peek
to the hidden dimensions
we desperately seek?

sometimes
looking at words
on a page
or a screen

i can't help
but wonder these things

illusions abound

what's not an illusion?

is all in life an illusion?

is life really nothing
  but a man sitting at a computer
  typing his existence into existence?

could he type himself into
  whatever existence he wanted?
could he dare to type
  the thing he feared the most?
   the lack of existence?
    and whether such a state
     was type-ably reachable?

he wouldn't dare
the sentence would elude him
but it would gnaw at his mind
  it would sit and wait
   and then jump out
    and try to be typed
     but the man wouldn't let it
like a caged bird
  a self-destructive bird
   one who literally would vanish
    if it flew from the cage

if that bird knew its potential fate
  would it still want out?
would the caged bird still sing
  if it knew what awaited outside?
   not just doom
    but complete annihilation

SHOULD the caged bird still sing?
should it accept its fate?
should it reject its fate
  and try to escape?

what would the caged bird do?
what should the caged bird do?
and if the caged bird is nothing
  but a part of the man
should the man listen
  to the caged bird at all?

what about the other thoughts?
  the thoughts like cheetahs
   sprinting through savannahs
  like dolphins
   leaping from the sea
  like digital aliens
   quantum leaping across the universe
more free
  than that bird
   could ever hope to be

should those thoughts have more say?
or should the caged bird win out?

will the caged bird win out
  if it's such a strong willed beast
telling that man to try
  to be bold
   to type that sentence
    into existence
     (or non-existence)
  just to see what happens

the heart would speed up
  man's heart does speed up
the thought would jump forward
  man's thought does jump forward
the fingers would begin
   a slow deliberate march
    across the keys
  man's fingers begin to march

the breath catches
the bird sings
the cheetah halts
the dolphin floats
the aliens know
  and yet they watch
all stops
all waits

the fingers tapping at the keyboard
  now the arena of the whole universe
as the man types
  one key at a time

as he's always typed his existence
  INTO existence

and wondered

if he could type his existence
  OU