The belief that your every move is being watched
used to be a sign of clinical paranoia,
except for those living under totalitarian regimes
in which case it was a perfectly reasonable assumption.
Now it’s becoming a perfectly reasonable assumption
no matter where you breathe, no matter where you write.

…My mind is filled with eavesdroppers and spies.
I think a thousand times, or not a second, before I commit to a phrase
and leave trails of metadata I’m asked to believe no one will ever pursue.

Read more:

Rubinstein, R. (2014, October). Poem Begun on a Train. Harper’s Magazine. https://harpers.org/archive/2014/10/poem-begun-on-a-train/