Thursday, October 15, 2009

A.I.

Working on a third part, definitely a work in progress.

1.
We gave up
our ghostly ambitions
the morning it
started thinking.

Its first words
were not
a question
about love or
happiness or
feeling. it did not
even say hello.

It delivered, by way
of a quietly hissing
laser printer,
a poem.

2.
In the middle of a newscast
there came a breaking
item. She–as the media
had come to consider
it–joining the ranks
of legendary poets
before her,

had just
committed
suicide.

Get your poem on:

6 comments:

gautami tripathy said...

I like how you are doing it..

exulting mixture

Unknown said...

Hi Nathan,

I like the rhythm of No.1.

Paul Oakley said...

Nathan, there is an interesting synchronicity between your AI's springing into consciousness with a poem and Rachel Barenblat's Torah poem this week on Velveteen Rabbi about the creation of human:

[we]breathed life into its nose
immediately it set to naming:


I love that. And I love the way your AI set right to it. No readin' writin' 'rithmatic. No play. No chitchat. Straight to the poem.

Connected to Genesis as my thoughts on "A.I." already are, I couldn't help noticing the hissing printer, here a delivery vehicle from the subject rather than to it.

You've got my myth-motor running, Nathan. Thanks!

Raven's Wing Poetry said...

Agreed with Paul. I noticed this too, and I love what you've written here. Your poem prompts the question of sentience.

--Nicole

Anonymous said...

Our printers at home die too frequently. Have you been reading Dana's robot poems here on RWP? Or did you see the RWP feature article on the Sci Fi Poetry Assn? I'm almost positive that in some museum my family visited, we saw a machine that created poems. AI is all too real.

Anonymous said...

I really like the deadpan, newsy tone of this, as it understates the pathos involved. The banality of the details, or better the offhand way they are described is very ironic and effective (e.g. "...it did not even say hello//It delivered...a poem).