Poem by Lucille Lang Day
What the NSA Knows
the names of all your Facebook friends
the rides you liked at Disneyland
who rode with you on Splash Mountain
and what necklace you were wearing
who sent you a link to her reading in Houston
who wants the name of your publicist
who was worried that she offended you
and who invited you for coffee this afternoon
who left you voicemail messages on Monday
before speaking with you on Tuesday
who gave you the best bid on Wednesday
and which Latino contractor texted you today
that you ordered Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion
and Neutrogena Fragrance-Free Hand Cream
on Amazon along with The Crafty Poet,
Miss Emily, and Surprise-Inside Cakes
that you don’t login to Twitter every day
but you’ve tweeted things like the “Wake Up
and Take Action on Climate Change” petition
and “Dung Beetles Navigate Using the Stars”
the NSA has whole buildings of computers
with teams of engineers and systems analysts
to track your search for furry slippers
and tell the president what size you buy
Art Information
- "What Are You Looking At?"—stencil by Banksy © nolifebeforecoffee; Creative Commons license.
Lucille Lang Day has published ten poetry collections and chapbooks, including Becoming an Ancestor and Dreaming of Sunflowers: Museum Poems (2014 Blue Light Poetry Prize). She is co-editor of Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California and author of two children’s books, Chain Letter and The Rainbow Zoo, and a memoir, Married at Fourteen: A True Story. Her poems, essays, and short stories have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, and she has received the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Literature, two PEN Oakland Awards, and nine Pushcart Prize nominations. She lives in Oakland, California.
For more information, visit Lucille Lang Day's website.
