An Early History of Surveillance
- An Early History of Surveillance
The only people who are unsuspected are the ones who do not hide. Books open, blinds up; a white banner flailing in the yard. At nightthe neighbors fumble for their torches, then gather to take stock of darkened glass, cameras disconnected from their feeds.
The torches buzz electric, casting light on rebel bodies’ malcontent. If a wife slips unseen into a nightgown, it is sinister. If a childwails, they will want to know. The benefit of noncompliance, like its punishment, is a lone existence at the edge of cliffs.
Spiritual eviction: a battery of unuttered words. Eventually things that haven’t been recorded are understood never to have happened.Under the cover of spruce, it becomes possible to lie shapeless and cease existing—then rise, feeling low, and shamble on. [End Page 201]
suzanne roszak (née Hopcroft) is an MFA candidate in poetry at The University of California, Irvine. Her poetry is forthcoming or has appeared under her maiden name in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Phoebe, Redivider, the Minnesota Review, Poet Lore, and Verse Daily.
