(x = space)

x

x

Tune in Tomorrow

x

I’m not smart;

I don’t have a smart phone

Or a smart house

Or a smart life

x

I use the ticking of a clock,

Not an association,

Other wind-up ways

And, yes, electron ways

To note

Time passing

As it does

In society

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My books do not have faces

(not meaning the clock)

Though they do have bindings

For clarity

In anticipation

x

They have tropes and memes,

I’m sure

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This will be changing

Naturally,

Technologically, enough

x

My cars have had computers

For a while

And I still like the lure

Of robots’ walking service

And companionship,

Of a jetpack set upon my back

So I may fly over

Land and water

And through clouds

Of other worlds

x

Childhood’s end,

Mister Clarke,

And childhood’s dreaming

With all the songs

I used to listen to

That would resonate

With or without volume

Later on

x

Things change

x

Some things fall apart,

Sometimes the center:

The poem and

The novel know this,

Through our

Participation

x

Some remains

(some remains)

On the edge

Like samples in a centrifuge

Or in the washer after

Machinic wringing

As a body might wring something

Autonomically

(or for the therapist to say)

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Memories,

Some items

Metaphors

And totems

x

Worn wires

And connectors

Old, most likely small

Machines

x

Storied threads

Kept in shadowed places

Until the knob is turned,

The door opened

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The wires, threads, and all

Intertwine

In our own alchemy

Into today

With new things,

Many things

Applied

x

All mix

Then when done

Can sough and sigh

Into the future

x

Terms and

Formal understandings

Are better for tomorrow;

Today is for the

Result of threading

Into compromise,

Often astounding,

Of things good,

Some bad

Things tested,

Some waiting to be tried in

The world

Or safe at home

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I’ll tell you things

And will you tell me, please?

That will be star-stuff

Mister Sagan,

Ms Druyan

x

On Earth

More locally for now

A charm, token, song today, tomorrow–

Story-stuff

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C L Couch

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Photo by Alberto Bobbera on Unsplash

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