Emma Goldman-Sherman
ASMR: Alien Flight Deportation Illegal Deportation Flight Alien
lifelines erased
enough sharp diamonds
over closed fists as mine—
lights sinister such powers
energy of seams’ dark hours
into deep drilling
mine of idea
the spin spiders weave
web of filaments
thin from hanging
all we are
countries
lost in prisons
to freedom-seeking people
taking airplanes
full of engines
of shackles of sound
the on-off getting
getting off on the sound
of shackles of engines
of full airplanes taking
people seeking freedom
to prisons
in lost countries
we’re all hanging
from thin filaments
of web
these spiders
spin the idea
of mine drilling deep
into our dark seams
of energy powers
such sinister lights—
mine as fist
closed over diamonds
sharp enough to erase lifelines
Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, the White House posted a video on X showing immigrants in shackles being prepared to board a deportation flight from Seattle. The video was accompanied by the statement “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.” ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, a pleasant, tingling feeling some people experience when watching videos featuring unusual sounds. The term was coined by a user on an internet forum in 2010.
Emma Goldman-Sherman is the author of the chapbook Possible Paths for the Minotaur (Ghost City Press, 2025). Their plays include Abraham’s Daughters, Antigone’s Sister, and Fukt, among others. Goldman-Sherman’s poems have appeared in Third Estate Art, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review, Strange Horizons, The Nature of Our Times, and other journals. A trauma- and Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed coach who works with autistic and other neurodivergent clients, they live in New York City.
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Thank you, Michael, for posting this! I love the note. It is exactly what inspired this poem. I appreciate you!
Powerful images!