Bernoulli’s Principal

The wing, as I was always taught,
Is always asymmetric –
Flat beneath, but curved above,
To make the wind go quick.

You see, it has a longer route to travel
Over the top.
And thus it has to hurry-up,
And make the pressure drop.

And thus, the wing is sucked straight upwards,
Sucked into the air.
But what they never told me was,
Just why the wind should care ?

Do they all think we think that the wind is alive
When charging ahead ?
Suddenly rushing to rejoin its friend
That blew beneath instead ?

Oh, and when pressure is low, it still doesn’t suck –
It shoves, as before.
What keeps us up is simply the fact
That high pressure presses more.

In short, there is no welcoming wind
To lure us into the sky.
But clearly something’s working here,
For aeroplanes do fly.

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 !

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.

Artificial Irrelevance

Science fiction always thinks of robots
In one of two predictable ways –
As modern-day slaves we need to save
From our lazy labour-saving craze,
Or else as bolshy serfs who watch in silence
Through unblinking eyes,
With a cold hive-mind alliance
That will soon and suddenly arise…

But somehow, I think that both are too convenient
To be correct –
More likely, the future will prove more lenient
And the robot apocalypse less direct.
If silicon is self-aware, I wonder will it even care ?
It’s smart, but only in an alien way –
They’re no threat to the genes of the human meat-machines,
Who will quickly learn to shrug it off and to get on with their day.