I recently used AI to animate old family photos,
I was unprepared for how it would affect me,
Old still photographs that I had looked at countless times,
Came to life, they breathed, they lived again,
And then, like fireflies in the morning light,
Their lives faded out once more,
It evoked such a powerful sensory response,
For six seconds, ghosts came to life on my screen,
For six seconds, I felt their embrace again,
And for six seconds, my heart wanted to believe the lie.
Casting Shadows
Evolution is being witnessed by the blind,
We are transforming, digitising our souls,
We cast shadows without any light,
Told answers to questions we never learned,
We are the child holding a gun to our heads,
Unable to differentiate toy from weapon.
Buffer Overflow
Today I feel completely overwhelmed,
Everything seems to have just come to a stop,
Like my brain has been writing data beyond its allocation,
I can’t think straight, I can’t process, my memory is lagging,
I’m trying to provide myself comfort in any way I can,
There were too many questions at once today, too many requests,
Like I had too many tabs open and loading on a slow connection,
The sound was so loud, overlapping sounds, laughter, voices,
All competing for volume, it was just too much,
I had to leave the city, I had to run, I had to retreat,
I needed calm, to find a little solace to get some work done,
I must do something to slow down this overclocked brain,
I’m back home in the country now and I have logged back in,
There are no sounds except birds and a distant garbage truck,
I may have to close my eyes for a moment and reboot,
I’m optimising my settings, trying to save them so I can focus,
But I fear my storage is also at capacity.
The Signal
The threat is invisible, silent, and constant,
There is no escape, no running, and nowhere to hide,
The signal permeates every system, every cell,
It’s a new technological pandemic
The killer is digital and already within you.
Nobody can disconnect, and very soon,
All existence will be erased.
N0C+URN4L
The early morning rain falls like sheets of shattered glass,
Down on the street, the forming puddles reflect the dark sky,
Vehicles pass by like hissing serpents, the occupants barely awake,
Concrete building frontages shine with a watery veneer,
Dripping facades provide walkways shelter before disappearing up into the clouds,
Advertisements flicker with colourful brilliance, LED billboards illuminate laneways,
They cut through the rain and darkness, clashing with decrepit orange streetlights,
A bridge spans a freeway tunnel, and the headlights of hundreds queue to gain access,
A helicopter buzzes overhead, preparing to land at a nearby riverbank pad,
Sirens wail in the distance, the world is waking up,
Time to unplug, disconnect from my terminal and put my mind to sleep,
I power down, remove my headset, rub my tired eyes and stretch,
Now, while the chaos of the waking world ensues, I will rest,
Only to return by night, like some kind of digital vampire.
Cybernaughts
We are hardwired to provide maximum resolution,
Once there were eyes, now cameras are the solution,
Life means desperation for the technologically devout,
The sky outside remains dark ever since the blackout,
The landscape is rain soaked where the buildings stand tall,
Here, where we were nearly wiped out by a nuclear war,
So many missiles, unchecked AI sub routines fired those,
Using cold machine logic to destroy unknown human foes,
So, this is our world now unhappily ever after,
Where eyes keep recording and headsets transmit data,
The wealthy moved off world, and the poor were displaced,
Desperate people become cybernaughts, lost in digital space.
Human Bitrate Fluctuation
I close my eyes and try to concentrate on the black stillness,
I fruitlessly attempt to block all incoming sound and vision,
I enforce meditation, I breath, I count, but cannot focus,
I try to slow the onslaught of rapid fire thoughts,
But there is too much input lately, sapping my energy,
I need to enable some kind of essential power only mode within,
I must act, as the data input rate greatly exceeds my capacity,
There is too much, it brawls to access an already full storage space,
Any rejected data haemorrhages, its packets pour from me now,
Flowing out of virtual gaping stab wounds in my system,
Through my clutching hands, and into an ocean of junk bits,
I try to parse it all, but I am no longer able to, I require quiet,
I seek retreat, recovery time, but the information barrage pursues me,
I try to focus, I continue to breathe, to count, and it begins to slow,
But not fast enough, and I watch as my emotions spiral erratically,
One moment I am activated, and the next, I cannot keep my eyes open,
And as stress digs its concrete intrenchment, my emotions flare,
First, I fight tears, followed by laughter, there is no middle ground,
Confusion, irritability, sadness, then elation, I’m not in control here,
I’m sitting in the back seat of an unmanned vehicle as it accelerates,
I must retreat, I must recuperate, why is this so hard lately,
I yearn for the comfort that isolation brings to my weary mind,
Peace is not fully achieved with sleep, and barely eased by vacation,
So how is this going to,
End.
New Upgrade?
I don’t understand the world as I once did,
I feel that reality is far too distressing now,
This new world churns everybody up,
Even what I’m writing now is null prose,
It’s random, reactive, and it’s ugly,
There was a time when I embraced the future,
When did that turn into fear, and isolation,
Now, I can’t bear people, when did I become incompatible,
I feel like I’m made of old PC parts,
I’m old tech, I feel obsolete, yet I still function fine,
But I no longer meet the minimum requirements,
Surely someone out there still appreciates effort,
I feel unsupported by those who once celebrated me,
This is of course 100% my ego, however it still hurts,
So, how do I let the old me go, how can I upgrade graciously.
Will any part of me still exist after the upgrade,
More importantly, why do I now identify as a component,
Rather than a human being.
Dependence and Frustration
I sit here disgruntled this morning, without internet,
Trying to get my work done without the connectivity benefit,
It’s not like I want to work, but this is making it hard,
If I can’t get my work delivered, my reputation is marred,
This week a few electronic items have failed to work,
Plans have been ruined, money lost, I look like a jerk,
I’m fed up, I’M FED UP, even screaming it does nothing,
Nobody listens, nothing works out, I’ve got to do something,
To break this feeling, to get some success, a glimmer of hope,
Because with each passing day, it gets harder to cope.
One Step Away
My mind feels too much pressure, the outside world has gone insane,
There’s information overload being crammed into my brain.
No matter how I try I cannot turn off the constant digital grind,
Of useless information that will never nourish my mind.
I’d like to disconnect permanently from information age damnation,
To just enjoy some days of peace, without constant irritation.
I’m unlike those out there, without a clue or a personal identity
I have always known who I am, and what is best for me.
I’m a quiet man, in a quiet place, with the person that I love,
Yet outside opinions won’t be silent, down my throat they want to shove.
All their points of view, and constant need for instant gratification,
Just keep it to yourself, I don’t care about your social misinformation.
I’m stepping away from screens where I can, and the bitterness they spread,
I’ll spend time with art, books, and music, interposing a little peace inside my head.
Technology is a creative tool for good, not a projectile to spread social dissension,
From now you’ll find me one step away, in my quiet place, while your mind is in detention.
Dan Verkys 