Rush
Ev’rybody’s in a hurry,
So are you, and so am I,
For ev’rybody’s busy-busy
Scurry-scurry, gotta fly,
Now ev’rybody’s in a tizzy,
So am I, and so are you,
Cos ev’ryone, from Skye to Surrey,
Whizzes-round like ballyhoo,
We’ve got to keep the bubbles fizzy,
Got to keep it on the go,
We ain’t got time for worry-worry,
Ain’t got time to say hello,
When ev’rybody’s in a flurry,
Kangarooing, hue and cry,
Till ev’rybody’s downright dizzy,
Sorry, thank-you and goodbye…
False Positives
In reams and reams of screens,
Awash with electronic ink,
Modern life, it seems,
Can be too quick to make a link –
Bombarding us with helpfulness
That turns out to be bunk,
As we’re wading through a wealth of mess,
And oceans-worth of junk.
With teems of smart machines
Whose outputs only grow and grow,
Modern life, it seems,
Is just afraid to tell us “no”.
Is classification then simply an illusion,
Decisiveness drowning in doubt ?
Results are lost in too much inclusion,
And not enough filtering-out.
These aren’t people, we needn’t feel sorry,
They have no sentience –
We’re not some malevolent Tory
With deep cuts we must dispence.
We needn’t be stone-deaf to pleas,
For no pleas can be made.
These facts aren’t lonely refugees –
So why is our softwear swayed ?
We need our algorithms cruel
If they’re to be effective,
For what’s the point of a rule
If we won’t let it be selective ?
So we have to choose, it cannot be both these,
In our data refinery –
For we need no participation trophies
In the world of binary.
Yep, I just treated data as a mass-noun, and not a plural. The same way as every pedant would still treat news as not a plural.
Sparkle
Glint all you want, you spangle, you sequin,
We won’t hear the photons you sing –
Your careless and moment’ry manner of speaking
Is nothing but corporate bling.
Your beauty is deadly, you tinsel, you glitter,
You’re nothing but plastic that shines –
You shimmer undimmed in the undying litter
Of downfall that’s dressed to the nines.
But it isn’t your fault, your glimmers, your flashes,
How can we not light to your smile ?
If the end of the world has such radiant ashes,
At least we will go out in style !
Canis lupus canis
Wolves, it must be said,
Make a rubbish pet –
They’re far too wild and free.
So get a husky instead,
If you want to get
That echo of prehistory.
And the malamutes as well
Have the tundra feel,
And even alsatians at a squint –
Most laymen cannot tell
Which ones are real,
They’re built to the same blueprint.
But for all dogs look like wolves,
With their shaggy coats
In black and white and grey –
They’ll act like dogs, not wolves,
Won’t rip the throats
Of our toddlers when they play.
Our forbears spent many tens
Of thousands of years,
To breed-out the threat in the growl.
To be our deceptive friends
With the upright ears,
Who will never bite, but can still howl.
Note that a husky is no more closely related to a wolf than is a pekanese or a dachshund. It’s true that huskies can still interbreed with wolves, but again this is true of all dogs (logistics notwithstanding…).
Preta-Manger
The Buddhists believe in the hungry ghosts,
Who need to feed –
So paper models of modern life are burned,
To sate their greed.
Good to know that the heavenly hosts
Are capitalists,
Hording the hell-money they never earned
In their undead fists.
Headbanger
Whyever are woodpeckers
Logged by how they’re spotted ?
Why are we such checkers
Of how many lots we’ve totted ?
And is the greater-spotted greater
In the number of its spots ?,
Or is its name a commentator
On the quality of dots ?
Or is each polka such a size,
They’re practic’ly uniting ?
Or are the spots our searching eyes,
Recording ev’ry sighting ?
Since woodpeckers are more likely to be heard than seen, perhaps it’s a reference to Spotify…?
Inter-Rings
A chain is an intermittent cable,
Links half-full of air,
Excluding weight, whenever able,
Just enough to keep it stable –
But chains have noise enough to spare,
When dropped upon the table,
Or creaking swings, or armour-wear,
Or rattled in a dungeon liar.
Winter Jacks
Jack Frost and Jack Thaw,
Mortal enemies –
Fighting over water drops
In air and stone and trees.
Jack Frost gets in early,
But then Jack Thaw wins the day,
But once the Sun has set, we see
Jack Frost come out to play.
Angel & Demon
Ev’ry cherub has a good side,
Has a cute and blond-curled nonesuch,
Muted-trumpet, harp-soft-touch.
But deep within, they surely hide
A grinning, sharp-horned, prong-tailed whiplash,
Bass-drum-beating, cymbal crash.
The truth is, in ev’ry Gabriel,
A Lucifer is also present –
Ready, should things get unpleasant…
But likewise, in the darkest Hell,
In each Beelzebub in town,
A Michael waits to calm things down.
Castles
The Normans came to Wales,
And smashed their stones upon the ground,
And built them up to battlements,
Projecting might to all around.
Today, we go to Wales
To marvel at these ruined forts –
Each very Welsh and ancient keep
Forgotten Normans brought.
The Spacefolk came to Chile,
Raised their mirrors to the sky,
And perched them on the mountaintops
To see what they could spy.
Tomorrow, future Chile
Will still marvel at each ruined dome –
Each very old, Chilean fort
That looks so much at home.
Rhyming Couplets 