I made this Villanelle out of chopped up pieces of another poem I had previously written. This version is about cameras that watch us. There are an estimated 40,000 CCTV cameras in London alone, and the trend is picking up across Europe and the U.S. Any feedback is welcome.


They gaze with eyes in violating stare
Perched atop every street corner
Like gravity, their weight is felt to bear.

So how is it that I should not care?
How is that I should make peace with
These eyes that are planted everywhere?

Should I pretend that they're not there?
Should I ignore what they do implore
And pretend they do not stare?

Should I look into the eyes and swear
My alliegance to a vampire?
Should I let them follow me everywhere?

I feel the weight underneath that stare,
My highest priest has not those eyes
Those eyes, which humble, watch, ensnare;

'Tis a weight that I simply shall not bear
Though we all seem to endure
The reduction of mankind they declare
And the cold humiliation of their stare

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