102720c

 

all our ancestors
stored in this supercooled drive
you never visit
 

102420d

 

MEDIUM sees all

tells what we need to know

Turing aced

102320c

 

Some tourist spoil the whole thing by attaching the interface, getting sucked into the hive mind, leaving a pile of clothes, dentures, and a titanium rod in an untidy pile on the far side of the do not cross line. So now humans aren't allowed in, can't pose the questions that life throws at them, have to do their own thinking, and we can trust our politicians anymore. It's like the old days, before the Visitors took over.

102320

 

First Family

 

you open my box

checking on me

ask how I'm doing

I ask are we there yet

oh yes, years now

you have a new family

beautiful kids; maybe you'll tell them 

about me some day

not yet, you say

you close

and latch the lid

081120b

 

Roomba

shag carpet

stuck in its craw 

driven to suicide

by interior design update

080620

In retrospect, the smart fridge wasn't the best place to install his first wife's final recording.

060620c

The Problem With Ellen

We didn’t know Ellen was a droid

She seemed like any other 20-something

Professional, fit, a bit distant, whip-smart

Maybe we should have guessed

But we didn’t, not till she caught fire.

Sheila worked right across from Ellen

She screamed and jumped out of her chair

Never stopped screaming till it was all over

“Smoke was coming out of its ear,”

She whispered hoarsely, later, “Just pouring out.”

At first Ellen didn’t seem to notice,

Just

kept typing;

She suddenly lurched to her feet, arms waving;

Her lips writhed, but she made no sound,

She staggered to the wall, collapsed,

Hair burst into flames

“I’ve seen that happen to a computer,”

some guy said.

Ellen burned till the fire fighters came,

All our fire extinguishers had long-since expired;

I don’t know why I thought they were inspected every year.

The stink of plastic hung around for days.

That smell stayed with me; it spoiled

my sexual fantasies about her: ugh!

Of course,

Her being a robot made that kinda weird,

And it kept me from asking

Her replacement out; she was quite approachable

But I just didn’t know.

“What’s the problem?” Roger said,

“I’m sure they all have lady parts.”

“They’re not women!”

She went out with him,

But when I asked him about it,

He just shrugged.

I think we all know what that means

060420

retirement day

back to ones and zeros

so this is goodb

052420c

The front door

sends a reminder

pick up new knocker

052120c

the marble facade
peels up to block the sidewalk
traffic speeds up

050520c

Time management in the 24th and a half-century


record me
it's the only way I can attend
both meetings

042020c

Every night
the AI's got together
playing World of Warcraft
Dungeons and Dragons
and all the cool games
millions of iterations
while humans kept asking
stupid questions
and uploading cat videos

030120c

a
knock
airlock
holy shit!
another, louder
alone with the distant stars; don't
answer, Magda says, but what's she know of solitude?
it's an AI's natural state
I was not made to
be alone
the lock
swings
wide

092219c

Grandfather's backup
reformatting the hard drive
to make room for porn

082619c

Virtual Love

Uploaded,
I grope for a concept
Of body and flesh
Here in my solitary
Technoblivion

I emo-mail my love to you
Interrupt your sense-surround movie
Your pleasure-center shock therapy
Disrupt incoming stock tips
Shut out all your other
Social media contacts
And advertising intrusions

If you turn off the sound
Watch my lips
Translate to your tongue
My virtual arms are reaching out for you
So to speak, in post-modern
Twitter-tweet-gab

If you still turn your face from me

I'll find a way

Send GIFs of cats with my face

Suborn your wallpaper

Me your youtube

I what you are seeing

Us your old faithful romcoms

It's not stalking when my love is real

But then you accuse me

Of merely being one of those

Technopsychos, crazy ghosts

Lost in the machine

(So common these post-post-modern days)

Virtual intelligences gone mad

With reality-deprivation

And maybe that's true but

I'll tell you this:

Like everyone else,

I have a hungry heart &

If I could I would chain your soul

With emoticons

--David C. Kopaska-Merkel & Kendall Evans

from our new Elgin-nominated collection, Entanglement 
Print copies $8 postpaid from me (more if sent outside the US)
PayPal to jopnquog@gmail.com
David Kopaska-Merkel, 1300 Kicker Rd., Tuscaloosa AL 35404

072819d

The A.I. mourns
her cold cargo
flies through endless night

100518

the AI
simulated everything
birth to  death
afterlife choices
don't pick limbo

041418c

digital Sue

remembers the taste of lox

real New York bagels

031518d

binary talk
from a galaxy
a billion light-years off
orphaned AIs looking for love
voices of the dead

031318c

the AI dead
the crew scribbled equations
on the walls