New Poem: THE PEOPLE IN THE AI BUBBLE

 don’t cry babies don’t cry

 we’ll be idiots if we walk away from big big money

 stop moaning about the water that must be consumed 

 take our word that it’s only the amount four houses would use

 look at all the jobs, though temporary, for transient workers 

 we’ll use/discard your towns and cities by co-opting governments

 big big money is at stake

 and all you great unwashed conservatives and NPR liberals 

 can’t stop us, so please be quiet now

 as we spin fantasy yarns about how AI titans can self-regulate 

 

 if the machines take over our planet,

 we’ll have made our big big money 

 and will hide in underground bunkers

 with creature comforts and robotic servants

 that will have kill switches we won’t provide

 to those up above who somehow survive 

New Poem: TRUMP OFFERS $5,000 FOR YOUR SOUL

 the proposal he thinks is so grand

 he mentions it two nights in a row 

 on night two, he gets out brass tacks:

 support me or go straight to Hell

 Hell may now be filled with Democrats

 and a lot more Republicans than expected 

From Alex Gibney VANITY FAIR interview re his Elon Musk documentary

 “If Musk makes it to Mars and begins his colony, is the damage that he’s caused on Earth all worth it?

No. He is exploding the planet. Putting Donald Trump in the presidency is exploding the planet. He’s put a completely reckless sociopath in charge of the most powerful country on earth. Yeah. And he’s intentionally destroying the planet for financial profit. And this whole idea of making us a multi-planetary civilization is fine. I was watching Apollo 11 on the plane on the way here. It was such an interesting watch because it was such a sort of innocent time compared to now, even though the president, of course, was Nixon. But even Nixon, as corrupt as he was, had this larger sense of national and human possibilities.

So no, I don’t think it’s worth it, but also it’s phony. It’s funny. It’s bullshit. There’s no way he’s going to Mars. It’s just bullshit.”

Excerpt From

“Elon Musk, Elizabeth Holmes, and Donald Trump Are All Alike, Says 'Musk' Filmmaker Alex Gibney”

Chris Murphy

Vanity Fair

https://apple.news/AY24hyNGkSKCzdh99xMUCJg

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New Poem: HOW IT BEGAN

 there was this movie I worked on

 I was in terror, had resulting competency issues,

 received various variants of verbal abuse

 and I hung on until the official wrap

 plus the two days of additional shooting 

 told myself I wouldn’t allow myself to

 be helpless in the face of wrath ever again 

 so I engaged in decompression therapy 

 by writing an outline for a roman a clef novel

 about a fake blockbuster titled ALIENS OVER HOLLYWOOD 

 the venting process was entertaining 

 and took place over a few off-work days 

 at the Fairfax Farmers Market 

 where I would write on a legal pad

 and consume a small bag of raisins 

 and discover I was no Hemingway

 so, at the end of one creative session,

 I wrote a short mock-epic poem on jaywalking 

 it wasn’t good, but it made me consider 

 learning the craft of compact stylistic creation

 my early poems were monologues 

 and then I learned to be concise

 using both narrative and metaphor 

 and I kept writing despite 

 algorithms, changing tastes, 

 refusing to be on the “good side”

 of certain disagreeable crème de la crème 

a few poems of mine were anthologized

maybe someone will read them after I’m gone 

New Poem: YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN

 you can go home again

 if you tell yourself it’s only temporary 

 see the closed stores and near-empty mall

 drive by the century-old high school 

 be surprised by the changes in old friends

 mourn the friends who decided to leave life entirely 

 buy a Pepsi Zero where the Dairy Queen once stood

 say hello to your family inhabiting the local cemetery 

 refuse to go near the house you grew up in 

 especially refuse to compare your aspirations to your actual life

 

 take your rental car back to the airport 

 all the while noticing big Texas skies

 plus the pastureland where camels once roamed