the telepathy machine worked perfectly
too much so
two layers of thought
our goal achieved, was overwhelming
still, doable
our layered minds seldom speak to singular subjects
the thoughts were not shocking
‘whoa’ was the consensus
however, the sensations
confused bouquets of scent, poorly mixing
tactile floods of skin
3D landscapes jumbled, superimposed
confounded bodily pain
variations of color
every sound echoing
visual triangulation, too many eyes
if no observer had milled near
neither of us could have located the off switch
Jean-Paul L. Garnier lives and writes in Joshua Tree, CA where he is the owner of Space Cowboy Books, a science fiction bookstore, independent publisher, and producer of Simultaneous Times podcast. In 2020 his first novella Garbage In, Gospel Out was released, and in 2018 Traveling Shoes Press released Echo of Creation, a collection of his science fiction short stories. He has also released several collections of poetry: Future Anthropology (2018), Odes to Scientists (2019), Betelgeuse Dimming (2020), Utopian Problems (2021), and Time’s Arrow (2022). He is a five-time Elgin Nominee and has also appeared in the 2020 Dwarf Stars anthology, Dark Matter Magazine, Utopia Magazine, and more. He is a regular contributor to DreamFoundry.org’s blog and is the current editor of Star*Line Magazine.
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