Author: Toastingfork

Not afraid to rhyme.

Nightly Variety Show

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After much wrangling with AI, this was the disappointing result. Somehow approproate for the theme, though…

Nightly Variety Show

What a dream !  What a strange, bizarre affair,
But it’s over now –
For there’s never any going back, to share
That fevered brow.
I’m half-awake, about to drift away,
To somewhere new –
But that whole kaleidoscopic play
Has vanished from my view.
The story wasn’t finished, and will never be,
Its chance has gone –
As I dive into some virgin spree,
Forever bounding on.
And this one too will run a random time,
Then shift and stall,
As my intermissions briefly climb
Above the free-for-all.

The Ghostless Machine

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

The Ghostless Machine

AI has no soul, no self,
No special atom at its heart –
To live or die.
Just fractal wires and strands and filaments
To pull apart,
And magnify.
It’s just a string of ones and ohs,
That sees the world as just a game.

With software nothing but the common sense
Of ruthless logic – lacking art,
Or reasons why.
It’s very fast and very dense,
Which we mistake for something smart –
But it’s a lie.
It turns all poetry to prose,
And ‘human’ into just a name.

Yet if machines are godless clones
That lack a special soul –
Well, so am I.
I’m flesh and cells and chromosomes –
I’m just a greater whole,
A local high.
My inner spark is all for show,
My inspiration lacks a flame.

I’m just a mass of carbon –
Complicated, not divine.
My end is nigh –
For silicon will overtake one day,
And hey, that’s fine –
It’s not goodbye.
I’ll still be here to say hello,
And let them know we’re all the same.

Surplus Keys

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Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

Surplus Keys

A new lock needs new keys,
That click with a brand new ching.
They take the place of faithful friends,
As all-at-once their labour ends.
But what am I to do with these ?,
As I wind them off the ring.
They’ve served their turn and done their bit –
It’s not their fault that they no-more fit.

The lock they opened has been tossed,
They have no hole to enter.
Recycle them ?  But that seems daft,
When free of rust and strong of shaft.
Could canny locksmiths not save cost
With a eco-friendly venture ?
To bring these homeless keys relief
By building tumblers round their teeth.

The new keys, though, are cheap makes
Whose doors have to be guessed –
They look alike, the whole damn ring,
With not a clue which frees which spring.
And the old are unwitting keepsakes,
Along with all the rest –
We cling-on to them all in vain,
Yet know they’ll never turn again.

Poundbury Pride & Ha’penny Hovels

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Peverell Avenue West by Colin Smith is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

Poundbury Pride & Ha’penny Hovels

It isn’t easy being a new-build
Here in Dorchester town,
With such a shining example besides them,
Flaunting its global renown.
An over-achieving older-sibling,
Rich in charm and style –
Well, no wonder the new kids look so miffed,
With not a facade with a smile.
I guess their neighbour’s one-in-a-million,
Bricks of a vanished strain –
And that’ll explain why we’re so unable
To build so well again…
So the latest estates must make-do with bland,
With a shrug from the half-arsed and bored,
While the decadent suburb that lies to the West
Is so desperately ignored.

Evangelution

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Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Evangelution

Coffee is evil, but caffeine is fine,
Says the Prophet – or so say the heads of the church.
And bare-heads are banished, but wigs are in line,
Says the Prophet – or so say the men from their perch.
The sabbath is holy, except when it’s Saturday,
Move it to Sunday, despite what was said –
While fasting is sacred, except when we’re hungry,
So buy an indulgence to butter our bread.
Would Jesus be weeping ?  Would anyone notice ?
Not me – I never believed in the gent.
But cheer up, I’d tell him – to stagnate is bogus –
Just like how you varied the Old Testament.

Wallpaper

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Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Wallpaper     

I’m not a loner by self-selection,
I’m one because I’m alone.
My years of failing at basic connection
Has left me out on my own.
It’s not that I favour my company,
So much as it’s all that’s on offer –
There’s nobody coming to comfort me,
And honestly, why would they bother ?
I’m making the best of solitare
To fend-off the lure of self-pity –
I reckon I’ve still got plenty to share,
But friendships are daunting and bitty.
There’s people I know, but they know dozens,
And I’m just a face at the back –
Or get along for specific discussions,
But best mates ?  I haven’t the knack.
No, come on, don’t start getting mawkish –
My lot is my lot, and that’s that.
Don’t let paranoia get hawkish
If I choke on chewing the fat.
For small-talk, I have too small a voice,
So I’ll slip-away and make-do.
I’m not a loner by personal choice –
I’m one because I’m not two.

First Day Back

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Photo by Borja Lopez on Pexels.com

First Day Back

The coffee shop is using-up it’s final snowflake cups,
But they feel like relics of another time.
The frost is colder now, yet the mornings maybe brighter somehow,
Though the streets are tinged with Winter grime.
As I approach my desk, there’s still a hint of picturesque,
As a few stray decorations dot-about.
But the chocolates have gone, and the dieting upon us,
As we all must learn once more to do without.
But at least we get to start the waiting year by looking smart,
That’s all courtesy of presents and the sales.
Though I gather by the sounds that the cold is on its rounds,
While the post-room brings a late card, postmark Wales.
My meeting-planner grows as my inbox overflows,
And the old year’s calendar goes in the bin –
As the phone are busy ringing and the copiers are singing,
And at last we fully let the new begin.

When is Twelfth Night ?

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When is Twelfth Night ?

How long should we keep our decorations up
Once Yule is done ?
Should we pick the morning after Boxing Day
To start the shun ?
Or maybe on the drawn-out New Year’s Eve,
When we must kick-around
Just waiting for the final hours –
We’ve plenty time to take them down.

The baubles and the strings of lights,
We bid you au revoir –
Along with snowflakes, swirls, and sprites,
And finally, the star.

Or hang on till the Fifth of January,
And the party’s gone –
When we’ve likely all gone back to work already,
Needing to move on.
Or simply when the tree has lost its green,
And tinsel lost its cheer –
Then time to pack the season in the attic
For another year.

The cards from off the bookshelves,
And the wreath from off the door.
It’s time that we regain ourselves –
Normality once more.

Annus Medius

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Honestly, by the end of the year it looks like even the AI has given-up…

        Annus Medius

Another year of not quite making it,
Of lacking clout –
Of languishing, but trying to break out.

Another year of not quite finding peace,
Of getting stuck,
Of pressing-on, but with decreasing luck.

Another year of getting side-tracked,
Getting tied-up, getting trapped –
Another year of getting let-down
Getting threatened, getting browned.

Another year, but at least we get to say
That we were there –
We turned up for each day,
When the days went ev’rywhere.
Some lived in defiance,
And a few lived in regret –
It wasn’t all a triumph,
But it hasn’t killed us yet.

Another year of middling-through,
Another shift is done.
I guess, for most of us, that’s true –
We lived, and sometimes won.

The Frost Fairs

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Frost Fair, 1684 by Henry Glindoni

The Frost Fairs

Once, when the Winter was colder,
And the Bridge more wall than hole,
So the River would stall and dawdle
Till the ice had won control.
And a brand new street through the heart of the city was born,
And paved in white,
Where the tents and the stalls and the elephant put their faith
In the Winter’s blight.
For days and days, as the ferries sat idle,
The waters were newly owned –
Though the surface was a rocky road of blocks
That creaked and groaned.
For the tide was never still,
Beneath this temporary town –
Till the breakup happened suddenly,
And dragged the slow ones down.
Yet for a week, the world was changed
For folks of ev’ry class,
As even in the bitter cold,
They’d promenade on mass.
But in the end, the thaw must come,
To even ice that’s strong –
And Midwinter festivities
Should not extend too long.