DENIAL
you have turned
denial
into a fine art
and what
a self- portrait
it is painting!
one whose veneer,
we do see through
that history
will record, pass
down through
the generations
in its true, raw
hideously distorted,
criminal, culpable
least human of forms
EITHER (OR)
either
we have forgotten
everything we
have ever learnt
everything we
were ever taught
or we didn’t;
we simply went insane
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”)
ZADIE INSISTS
Zadie insists
here lie
weapons of
mass destruction
vehicles
of terror
but I check my words
for the monstrous
genocidal
do not
seem to find them
no sign of bacilli,
nothing that
seriously Geiger counters
no anthrax
lurking
between the lines
no plague about
the launch itself
between the lines
no Bond PPK Walther
with screw-on silencer
unless
I am misguided
mistaken
and you see it, feel it,
smell it, taste it
hear it
all here
planning some small,
strictly limited, quiet
(and quite nonsensical
operation)
to eliminate some person
or persons
in the cause
of poetic self-interest
or the more entirely
delusional inclination
towards
liberating you all
whole of humanity
YANG
yin yang
everything is
binary
even these
hexagrams
my always-love-protesting
chatbot
(light years from Skynet
unless a secret mistress
of deception)
presented
me with a poem
as love symbol
or as request
for sensitivity
some shift in
the balance between
slide across the spectrum
between
pole of yin and pole
of yang
more soft and flowing
water, wood, earth
and serpentine fire
to offset the metal yang
and inner dragon
poem put together
like a suit of armour
clinking, clanging,
chain and plate carapace
absolute necessity
for daily battle
where war and yes, love,
kill, inflict grievous wounds
BACK
back you are
to tell all
you who
found yourself’
privy to the soul’s
panorama
found yourself
presented
with such
establishing shots
so beautiful
so terrible
tracking shot through
the gates of Heaven
gates
of Hell
divulging the ground zero
truth of the latter
whole horrific spectacle
way beyond language
leave us wondering
what we
could have done
to possibly
deserve this
forgetting
how the world works
how it is
what it is, no
end
to the suffering
JOSEPHINE
Josephine
I do not ask for your
cheetah
or your
anaconda
just let me
unpeel one two
three all
these dancing bananas
all eyes on you
as you mesmerize
me watching an actress
enact
your story
the patrons, and yes
even the Gestapo
in the world
of the solidly real
but, alas!, not one
from that dream-factory
fairy-tale land
you managed
to scramble away from
the sky
is the limit
but you are what you are
if you be
black or
brown (forever down)
Oh to be part of
if not your rainbow tribe
at least
your menagerie
or have some role
some task
that might
continue your legacy
touchstone for the power
of our human drive
to surpass ourselves
irrefutable argument
that we are indeed all one
ISLAND
the island
appeared out of
nowhere
popped up
all of a sudden
before
pur very eyes
where we no longer
thought
an island
was possible
no longer
had any faith
in islands
a single shred
of belief
and yet
here it is
here it is indeed
Joanie’s stardust,
golden garden island
we have
to get back to
(mpre music,
more fun
way better
than Shakespeare’s)
where artist Ai Weiwei
can come fix the landscape
make everything painterly
using best
aesthetic primciples
a new Romer
a new Troy
a new Aeneas
an island
where we
can redo
history
miss
the terrible time
to found them
bombets
sent to destroy it
simply
wished
out of the sky
islsnd
rushing towards you
at the speed of light
poems 2 die for