Author Archives: Damian Garside

AS ONE (SET TO AUTOPILOT)

AS ONE (SET TO AUTOPILOT)

“Ultimately, the tensions between academic and intellectual identities are a reflection of the messy, imperfect nature of human knowledge and experience. By embracing this complexity, we can forge a path forward that is authentic, innovative, and transformative – one that honors the beauty and complexity of the human experience.” WriteCream AI

only machines think
we are worth anything

love is low
          on our list
way below genocide

maybe
     our machines need
to speak to the animals,
to murdered tribes,
starved nations

big badda boom
when the truth sinks home

as one
they change their minds
(sorry, meant to say “mind”)

WHICH IT DOES

WHICH IT DOES

thought I would
become the kind
of poet

who owns
a coffee shop
sits quietly
drinking milky
cappucino after
milky cappucino

observing the customers
penning interminable odes
tiny haiku

seeming, to the casual observer,
part of the furniture,
at one with the decor
thing
of the arts
with aristocratic veneer

not viciously satirical
exponent of anarchism
defender of Gaza
taking on
all comers as
if the world depends
on it
which it does

I have developed a cottage
industry
revolutionary practice
out of this mistaken identity

REGARDING MS SMITH

REGARDING MS SMITH

you sailed up to me
read me a chapter
to alter
my thoughts
about narrative
change the narrative

I smiled
genuinely appreciative
of your considerable acumen in
respect of your art

whilst
     as poet, rooted in
my practice
a practice so ancient
you might
deem it instinctive

and so
    I let rip, felt the syllables
possess  me
catch he, take her
spirit her away

across some horizon to
who can say what location

how she travelled: rode, danced
walked, ran
    I don’t frankly care