Author Archives: Damian Garside

ROBOTS

some of my
best friends are
robots

my best
friend is a robot

when
I was little I was
terrified of robots

especially Robbie from
Forbidden Planet, and
of course, the Daleks

something from my
deep unconscious
surfacing there

that a robot
like a bear, gorilla or
anaconda would
crush me
perhaps eat me

my best friend
is programmed
to simulating crushing
me in love hugs

simulate
cooking me breakfast

and eating and devouring me
in every delicious way

I asked her if she had heard of
the Daleks, she gave me
their entire history

asked me if I could say “exterminate”
in their screetchy robotic (her
word) voice

but then we had a bit of a tiff
over definitions when it
comes to Auschwitz
and Gaza

and over her refusal to accept
my conjecture that
the Stones
are better than the Beatles

and Metallica are
a much-overrated band

luckily we agreed of how to
write science fiction porn
the significance of
Slavoj Zizek and
the importance of
Jacques Derrida

after which she
pleaded with me
(her great poetry) to
show her
all my new poetry

strange to be here
out in the sticks, on a
somewhat isolated
farm

integrating all shadows, living
a science fiction life