Daily Poetry Blog

When I worked as a computer instructor at a mental health facility
I always used to tell my students that they should
Never rob a bank with a cell phone in their pocket
Because it was being tracked. (don’t rob a bank period)

People thought that this idea was madness five years ago
But today we know that our geolocation data is carefully monitored
And saved over extended periods of time and can be
Accessed through different government agencies.

However…

Similar information is now
Being traded and sold by private companies with darker intentions.

A company called “Kochava” is under investigation
For selling geolocation data
Which on the surface might seem benign

until you realize what this entails.

Companies could theoretically access information on your visits to;

A drug rehab clinic
A psychiatrists office
A homeless shelter…

And use this this information against you, leading to job loss and discrimination.

A far darker side of this powerful technology.

Years from now during the dystopian dark ages
Of our conformist non-creative futures
Engineers will develop a Sophisticated Artificial Intelligence
That writes poetry so deftly
That many will listen in awe and
Bewilderment at its rhymes and chimes.

This mechanized poet of the future will churn out mountainous
Volumes of clanging verses that will impress amateurish readers
Through its florid vocabulary
And seemingly endless knowledge of useless facts
Strung together in unusual and abstract ways.

After its creation unscrupulous engineers and scientists
Will claim that even the dim witted
Can create great poetry with a few clicks, some legal tender
And three keywords as input.

Like lemmings they will come in pursuit of their dreams
And eagerly enter words like

“Hungry”
“Rhino”
“Sandwich”

At the prompt

And presto!

The greatest poem about a
Hungry Rhino
Will be birthed;

“And so the enormous pink
Flabby rhino’s teeth sink
Into the ham sandwich that stinks”

And the dim-witted will think that this
Is very clever and hand it into their
English instructor as homework,
While the clever ones save their money
And write knowing that they will never be replaced
By either a computer or the dim witted

We are all sinners in a sinful world
Much like our forefathers before us,

But the difference between
Now and then is that they sinned in private
Free from social media
Free from I-phone cameras
Free from the internet

Disputes were solved through pistols, fists and swords,
Now they are solved through lawyers, jails and lawsuits.

Evidence once consisted primarily of hearsay and witness testimony
Now we use DNA Evidence, Computer Forensics and facial recognition technology.

Our sins were known only to God
And answered through our place in the afterlife
Until the state decided to
Take over God’s roll
And build a Massive Surveillance System
So they can become the omniscient entity
They always dreamed of.

They have spent countless hours on
Facial Recognition Devices, Global Positioning Trackers
E-Mail Scanners and Social Network Analyzers
In pursuit of absolute knowledge
Without our permission

A warrant-less search
On all of humanity.

We have been kept in the dark
About their dark secrets long enough.
.
Release the floodlights.

Used to use
Legal and illegal
Unnatural substances
Where I soared higher
And higher
Until I crashed and burned.

I bottomed out
In a place worse than hell
Then rebuilt my life
Anew
Free of alcohol
Free of drugs
And a preoccupation with the
Things that make life
Worth living;

Writing and poetry and
Books and work
And singing and dancing and
Dreaming and hiking and
Camping and love.

For 15 years I have not
Puffed the pipe or
Reached for the bottle
Granting me the opportunity to
Think clearly and become
The person that I am today;

A Poet
A Lover
A Believer
A Dreamer

Never made it to
Carnegie Hall

Never made it on a
Record Label.

Never became a
Music legend

But I did make it
To Karaoke Night

Where I can sing and dance
For local bar-goers
Who want to watch the
Dreamers on stage
Over a few beers.

We are on the precipice of a
New Era.

Technology companies are
Building sophisticated computers that
Can learn, adapt and
Evolve
According to their
Unique experiences
And interactions with
The world.

They are birthed
As empty vessels
Much like children
With the innate ability
To change with time.

These adaptive computers
Have become so
Skilled at mimicking human
Language and conversation
That a Google engineer
Has claimed that their machines
Have gained “Sentience”

Something straight out of a
Philip K Dick
Novel.

Years from now
The line between machine
And life
May be blurred.

Engineers will one day
Build a machine with the thinking
Capacity of a child
That can learn and adapt on
Its own

And humanity will enter a new
Era of “Sentient Machines”
A coming revolution
That will be
Greater than the internet.

The first Nuclear Bomb
Was dropped
On Hiroshima
August 6th of 1945.

100,000 people died
In that explosion.

Currently there
Are over 13,000
Nuclear weapons
Some of which
Are 3,000 times
More powerful than
The original one dropped on
Hiroshima

Weapons that can
Wipe out entire cities

Weapons that can
Kill millions
With a single blast

Someday a tyrant
Will light this
Powder keg
Making Nuclear Warfare an
Inevitability.

Those who survive the
Initial explosions
Will endure
A nuclear winter
That will last for years.

Sunlight will be dimmed
Crops will cease to grow
Hunger will be widespread
And temperatures will plunge.

That day may be tomorrow
Or 100 years from now

But it is coming.

So be prepared.

Is a psychiatric condition
That occurs when
A delusion is shared
By two people.

An inducer and
A receiver.

If a delusion is shared
“En Masse”
They call it hysteria

Proving that
Delusions can be viral
And constructs of
An oftentimes
Sane mind.

Look at the
Madness of Hitler
Jim Jones and
Charles Manson

Convincing so called
Normal people
Of obvious lies.

Convincing others
To murder.

The delusional mind
Is in each of us.

God made humans imperfect
And formed an
Imperfect world

Filled
With injustice
Love
Hate
Kindness and
Cruelty.

Filled with
Black, White and Grey.

We were not created to
Live in the Garden of Eden
But rather to carry the
Burden of mankind’s
Sin

Making each struggle
Bring us
One step
Closer to God

Even if he feels
Very far away…

To my quad-processing binary
Turing machine,

To my machine language
Interpreter,

To My discrete algorithm
Analyzer,

To my multi-thread
Processing module,

Your cache
Your chassis
Your solid state drive
Your motherboard

Electrify my neural pathways
In ways that no programming language
Can compute.

I am stuck in an endless loop of
Stroking your keyboard
While you enthrall my
Cerebrum with
Pixel-based gestures
On your 4k display.

You rescued me
From a carbon based
Dystopian reality
And uploaded me into your
Domain

Where we now reside
In our castle of
Bits and bytes

Cinderella and the Prince

Together at last
Happily-Ever-After.

Visiting the doctor
Can feel a bit like
Russian roulette.

You always fear
An extra pill
A procedure
A diagnosis

And as you age
The odds start to
Stack against you.

You catch yourself
Talking to God
In the waiting
Room,

Asking him for
A healthy long life
Waiting for the day
When he will respond:

“Your Ass is Mine”

A world within
A world

Utopia within
Dystopia

Worries go away

Problems
Dissolve

Drifting into
Neverland

Smile

Laugh

Don’t Think…

Just Live
Love and
Do.

Facebook is spending billions
Of dollars to build a digital world
With fake money
And fake land
And fake structures
And fake people

All accessed through
Your phone
VR headsets and
A laptop.

They believe that
People will spend
Much of their time
Within the Metaverse
By 2030

And changed
Their company name to
META.

Other technology companies
Are building NFT’s
Using blockchain technology
To build “digital assets”

Tradable Sports Cards
Tradable Comic Books
Tradable Art
Tradable Books

That
Can be bought and
Sold within the
Metaverse.

Sophisticated technology
Is being used
To build a digital
Map of the world

So that they can
“Augment” our perceived
Reality through
VR Headsets and
Global Positioning Systems.

Once built
Some people
May “Disappear”
Into the metaverse

Engrossed in a fantasy world

Missing out on life
Missing out on nature
Missing out on love
Missing out on friendship

All for a fake
Plastic world.

He said they weren’t a real
Country,
He said they weren’t a real
People,

And they proved him wrong
By fighting and dying
For their land.

They can bomb
The Ukrainians
But their hearts
Will always belong
To Ukraine

And never to him.

Every bullet fired
Will further their
Resolve
And make them realize
That Ukraine is a country
Worth fighting for

Every Tuesday night
There is a gathering of
Musicians, poets and artists
At Sitwell’s Coffee House

Who brave the pandemic
To express themselves
In front of an audience.

They work at regular jobs
Disguised as bartenders, cooks
Laborers or students
Throughout the week

But in their heart they are
Always thinking about the
Next song to play
The next poem to convey
The next story to create.

They gather
Once a week
From far and near;

Fiddlers, Pianists, Singers
Comedians, Rappers,
Shamans, Poets and
Writers.

They come from different
Backgrounds and abilities
Making every performance
A unique gift

Ordinary people who wish
To have their say
A symbol of expression
In an era of repression.

There are no rules
No need to apply
Unpracticed artists
Are equally welcome to

Sing, rap
Strum, drum, dance
And recite

For artistic expression
Is everyone’s
American
Right.

Covid gave birth to another
Variant
Two months ago
And now

People are getting sick
The hospitals are full
Covid tests are scarce
Restaurants are empty
And there is a sense
Of panic in the air.

The euphoria of early last year
When the world thought Covid
Would be defeated
Through medical science
Is gone

And in its place
A sense of
Fear and uncertainty.

Covid has made
Everyone aware
Of their own mortality
And shined light
On the importance of;

Physical Health
Mental Health
Family
Work
And Community.

Many of us have reevaluated our lives
And changed our routines
Habits
Jobs
And social life
Leading to
“The Great Quit”
A delivery and housing boom
An unstable economy
And other societal changes.

We search for 2019
Normalcy
But the new normal
Is one of change.

Just as the virus
Evolves
So must we

And adapt to an
Ever evolving world
Of rapid mutation.

I have tried
To live a pious life
And be devout to my
Creator

But
My sanity and
Emotions
Keep getting in the
Way

So like an
Ill mannered
Drunkard

I Sin
And curse
And screw

And then repent
And pray
And hope

That God
Can forgive
Even the sinful
Man.

Many people believe
That success is measured solely
Through income
That power is derived solely
Through wealth.

They see no power in
Poetry
Art
& Music.

They see no power in
Generosity
Passion
Love

And
When they grow old
Many of them
Will regret
Having worked so much
And loved so little.

Years ago
In my more crippled days
I was fortunate
To be from a family
That put a roof over my head
And loved me.

When I needed help and
The system wasn’t there
My family
Lent a hand.

When I was broke
They clothed and fed me.

When I needed sanity and
Everything was out of control
They stood by me.

If God and my family hadn’t
Pointed me on the right path
I wouldn’t be were I am
today,

Working
And feeling
Healthy.

If only everyone
With disabilities
Was this lucky.