Written by V. Bray
I am stuck in the 900s,
re-cataloging the history shelf,
pulling books based on
lending statistics, publication date,
relevancy, POV.
These decisions will haunt me for days.
I look at the cartful of books wheeled into my office
awaiting my verdict.
Red, blue, gray, purple spines all containing
revisions over decades, centuries:
arguments rewritten repeatedly
to frame savagery and violence
into an acceptable context.
I am information director and historian, a breathing algorithm,
reconstructing the stories we—
town, city, government, country—
choose to tell.
Long after I am dead
will these decisions be continued by links
of binary code programmed to sift
through billions of social media posts
sorting and sequencing atrocities to piece
together an appropriate narrative,
a justification of humankind?
.
V. Bray has been a writer since childhood and still has a box filled with her first “books,” usually illustrated with markers and bound with yarn. She writes in many genres, from historical fiction to poetry. Her work has been published in literary journals including Stonecoast Review, About Place Journal, Halfway Down the Stairs, and pacific REVIEW. Her chapbook Breast was published by Plan B Press in 2026. Learn more about her work at authorvbray.com.