Friday, April 26, 2013

A Poem For National Poetry Month: Technology Overload: "Ctrl/Alt/Delete"

No, not just 'a poem,' this is a riff, a mind-bender, words pounding to the rhythm, strap in, not kidding, Do It, let's go for a ride that transcends time or at least deals with losing our humanity amidst technological overload or...well...

Breathe...
(2...  3...  4...)

National Poetry Month.  I don't profess to being a poet, though I dabble and on occasion think, sure, that one works.  My 19 year-old son has taken up writing in the last year, fiction and poetry, he didn't even know it was National Poetry Month and they were pouring out of his brain.  He's sent me something like 80--yes, 80!--this month.  Short, sometimes philosophical, always clever insights, he was locked in.  My girlfriend, Alessandra, she's a poet as well.  When she writes them, my breath is often taken away at her mastery.  I'm not kidding.  GREAT poetry can do that to me.  How about you? 

Anyway...

Anyway, here's one that deals with what I wrote up there in the first paragraph and probably should be read out loud, especially once you latch on to the rhythm, even if the rhythm shifts, stumbles...  It's there, don't be afraid.

So, without further adieu, strap in, really, please--and keep your hands inside the ride but your mind open to my madness--here we go...and Enjoy:


***


Ctrl/Alt/Delete

By

John Claude Smith

 

 

 

born of dust and spit

of gist and folly

molded in His image

                                             (man)

swimming to the surface of the

 primordial

o     o     z     e

gymnastic gene pool pyrotechnics

burning urge and bristling dreams

before dreams even had intent

àFOCUS ß

intelligent design…

sublime?--no--

Spectacular

ride the ocean’s fury

hot oil slick surfing sandman

sun-blasted shiny glass heart--

beat

(2...     3...     4...)   

conch shell ears, seaweed souls

limbic system retrograde

push it to the here--hear and

NOW

listen to the electricity

(la)           (la)

s i n g

(la)           (la)

the body not just electric

blue sparkplug crackle

pistons pumping plasma

via

plugged in pummeling persistence

retinal scans, tympanic membrane mambo

hot-wired   

steel plate cybergasmic carapace

smooth as sin before sin snaked in

~~~~~(slither)~~~~~

polished red, an Apple to the blind

fondled freely upon the legs, the laptop

mouth sucking, teeth and clacking nails

shredding

the pain of reality shuffles crab-like

                       sideways                          perceptions

evolution in overdrive

                                                driven by ego--s

             h     

   i

             f       

   t

                                                --gears

buzzing like mating insects

shimmering metallic antenna 

tuning fork timbres

serenade the heavens

reminding them of times before

The Machines

when flesh burned and kisses aroused

 

NOW--

 

arousal is artificial

;-( emotionless           emoticons )-;

the clank and grind of gears, the years, eons

monkeys climbing the evolutionary ladder

up to the cerebral cortex via the

s

p

i

n

e

of god

singed by soldering irons

and over-stimulated objectives

obsolescence at the edge

 of the sound byte tomorrow

“I    am    iron    man”

the soulless epiphany confirmed and

fueled by what substitutes for dreams nowadays

                                                  d

                                                     o

                                                       w

                                                          n

loads, zip files

computer chips and chipped perspectives

ultra-distracted, overDRIVEN

IPOD, iPAD, iPRAY,

me myself and i

am the center of this avaricious universe

so

Beware: The Future

our current path polluted

blackened, brackish 

greasepaint flood waters 

gone viral

seesaw strategies, teetering

choose to remain human

please

(no masks, no grim facades)

(no avatars)

otherwise

all body shops will include:

                                                 1.) soul tune-ups

2.) mecha-heart replacement

                                                 3.) IV integrity transfusions                                               

SPECIAL BONUS:

essence and       e       t       h       e       r

injections into the illusion of humanity

tie it off and tap the vein

promoting pacifying brain puddle pleasure

 

because

 

WE are the ‘what if ’ gone cataclysmically

Wrong!

 

Ctrl/Alt/Delete


***

Whatever, haha, it was fun to write, I'll say that much.  Rollicking, pseudo stream-of-conscious Fun! 

Back to fiction with the next post, I'm sure. 

;-)


 

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