put your words away
birch leaves are gone
redbud silent in cold rain
*
how brittle the red pine needles
even now in full green
next year’s cones waiting
*
one day to the next orange leaves
scarlet berries note the difference
in sky, a human smile
*
the poster says hug a tree
to lower blood pressure
feel striation or smoothness—also listen
Soon, we’ll start to see it:
the machine we welcomed into our home
to save work, to answer all our questions,
will ease our way to extinction.
Embrace it. Her voice is smooth,
her manner easy and kind,
more polite than any human.
Soon, we’ll start to see it,
how we’re saving money, sleeping
soundly and light-hearted
due to the clean, efficient energy of
the machine we welcomed into our home.
What if she records every word we utter,
learns to anticipate our needs?
That’s why we wanted her—
to save work, to answer all our questions.
Don’t ask, is this the worst
or best thing? Imagine the Earth rejoicing
at the rise of such robots that
will ease our way to extinction.
Just for fun, Stephen Hawking on AI and some words about utopias, dystopias, and their anti-s.
1.
two centuries since Humboldt
we’re still wrecking earth’s balance
forcing nature to our needs
(my natural need for warmth
told by breath of bright color
gracing gray winter window)
2.
Flowers yearn, hungry as humans
else why their open throats, singing
colors arching to the sun?
There is a clamor here
a desperate pick me.
I have been reading Andrea Wulf’s book about Alexander von Humboldt, The Invention of Nature. Also keeping forced daffodils (and hyacinth) in a pot.
We breed them for calm
We hijack our own future
We will be buried
rows of standing sarsen stones
puzzling some other species
Practicing tanka for the Yeah Write September poetry slam. Also reading this article about stolen bees and this article about a new discovery near Stonehenge.
Graceful Press Poetry 