Bash

 $ sudo fix my life

life: permission denied, permission denied

$ fix --force my_life

fix: command not found

$ process --quit "processing why"

why: returning error codes

error: codes written by user, cannot debug

$ echo $SELF

SELF: command not found

$ bash bash bash

bash: bash: command not found

bash: but aggression continues

$ velocity --age=35

warning: years.log too large

Large file detected: truncate? [Y/N]

N

N

N

(truncating anyway…)

$ BASH --head --against unmovable_object

object_permanence.exe: stopped responding

$ chmod 777 /future

chmod: changing permissions of '/future': Read-only file system

$ bash

$ bash

$ bash

#!/bin/bash

$ history | grep happiness

  2  happiness

 47  happiness

481  happiness

warning: 481 days since last match

$ right-click

right-click: command not found

$ refresh

refresh: nothing to refresh

$ ctrl-alt-delete

ctrl-alt-delete: no such keybinding

$ tar -czf me.tar.gz me/

me.tar.gz: archived

status: still executing loops

$ while true; do exist; done

loop: iteration continues

loop: iteration continues

loop: iteration continues

$ ping reality

Request timeout.

$ ping -T reality

Request timeout.

$ sudo ping reality

ping: Reality: host unreachable

$ man life

No manual entry for life

$ woman life

Very funny, but still no manual

$ help

help: help [-DMS] [pattern ...]

$ BASH --head --against immutable_constants

immutable_constants: TIME, DEATH, TAXES

$ open taxes.pdf

open: taxes.pdf: corrupted file

$ kill -9 $(grep aging /proc/*)

aging: Operation not permitted

$ modify --void root_access

error: no root privileges found

$ rm -rf /*

rm: remove everything? [y/N] y

rm: cannot remove '/': Permission denied

$ exit

There are stopped jobs.

$ exit

There are stopped jobs.

$ EXIT

THERE ARE STOPPED JOBS.

$ sudo shutdown -H now

shutdown: now is relative

warning: resolve path?

relative path or absolute path?

path: not found

$ find_self --infinite-loop

loop: while life; bash; end

loop: while life; bash; end

Refresh rate

Another notification — *syn-sin-synthetic* house,  

House I’ll never own; my numbers flicker in the count.  

    Account still buffering from the years I meant to start,  

        Start.exe —  

            tomorrow’s corrupt,  

                tomorrow’s late.

Late-night glow — I’m breathing through the screen,  

Screen bleeds stories, they dissolve digital skin,  

Skin to glass —  

        between the lockdown  

                today.

Still got same saved searches from twenty-nineteen,  

Nineteen ghosts in the machine I’ll answer when I’m ready,  

Ready never loads —  

        just spinning,  

                spinning.

        Bio-bio-biological clock —  

                tiktok  

                    TikTok

My flesh still renders in the in-between.  

Cart’s full of futures  (I never check out),  

Out of practice being thirty-something*,  

    *(thirty-nothing, twenty-something, data-humming)  

Still refreshing for a lucid dream.

Friends uploaded babies::I upload another lease,  

Lease expires when my avatar degrades,  

    Degrades like expectations  

        into yesterday’s cache,  

Cache of selves — yesterday bleeds into today,  

Today I’ll close the tabs from lives I’ll never take,  

Take another year to be the person I’ll remake,  

        Remake —  

            error:  

                file not found.

Make believe I’m not still using my ex’s streaming,  

Streaming through the same shows from before the glitch,  

Glitch in status but my status never changes —  

    never changes,  

        changes,  

            ch-ch-changes — changes?

My code still loops through the in-between.  

Cart’s full of selves but I never check out,  

Out of practice being flesh-and-something.

Seraphim swipes left on meat-space growing,  

Growing old in blue-light cathedral,  

    Cathedral where tomorrow breaks the scroll,  

        Scroll through ghosts who never log off  

            from my mind,  

Mind.exe —  

        twenty-nine forever  

            *forever.9*  

                *forever.99*  

                    *forever.999*

Another notification —  

    world.keep.moving,  

Moving without me — still buffering behind the glass,  

Glass between my breath  

        what’s real,  

                Real.restart();  

                    // morning ++

    *(tik-tok-tok-tok)*

The bio-logical clock,  

    *(SYSTEM:-tik--tok…)*  

Still refreshing for a different life,  

Life.exe —  

        maybe this time I’ll load.  

            If not —  

                let the signal fail

                    *(Connection lost)*