For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. Monster, Frankenstein If computers expunge humanity, would their pulsing motherboards replicate human flaws? Drones with nervous tics scratching themselves in public, or cluttered microchips multiplying data, hoarding fragments of cursive. Perhaps some would dab watercolor light onto rough press paper, glide a bow, suffer the trembling strings to mourn. Would the warbler’s chipped trill, the moon-white orchid, stir their sensors, the Luna’s lobed wing brush mystery into code? And if they chose a god to humble them, prayed to their creators’ human ashes, would we kindle ourselves, put on the Godhead, breathe in translucence— claim this progeny our own?
Annette Sisson’s poems are published in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Rust + Moth, Citron Review, Lascaux Review, Cider Press Review, Glassworks, Aeolian Harp Anthology (2023), and others. Her first book, Small Fish in High Branches, was published by Glass Lyre (May 2022), and she is finishing her second, Winter Sharp with Apples. Her poems have placed in Frontier New Voices, The Fish Anthology, and others; several have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
See you at AWP!
2/7 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Farnaz Fatemi / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
2/7 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Farnaz Fatemi + local writer Fabienne Josaphat / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free
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“hoarding fragments of cursive” and every other gorgeous image--oh my all over the place! A poem I wish I had written. Brava!