In these slick pages bound
I see a sweeping city vista
And there at the far end of the park
Tiny but discernible even from here
Through that helicopter, camera
Printing presses, mail man
I see your place, that brick and marble
Where my world expanded, unfolded
As Al knelt by the bed and uttered
One word
20161004
For Markus
In love I have seen the pantry
And the parlor. And my parents
Showed me the billiard room
And the library, though I did not
Know the game, or how to read.
So as I grew, I stayed
In those few rooms I knew.
Though I was sheltered by that roof
I rarely let others come
Into my inner sanctum
Like city-mouse who never wandered
More than a few blocks from home
Then she came and showed me the game
Taught me English. And then how to break
up. Others came, then The One
She got me to the long hallway,
To the formal dining. And she knew enough
Not to fling every door open. Wiser
Than me is she. And I love the feeling
Of being in love! And the wonderment in
Her eyes! And magic! Nevermore can I leave
This house. Though, still doors remain shut.
In bravado I puffed up, and put my
Daring to other uses. Crossing deserts
Climbing mountains, I have seen the
Pillar of fire! I have stood in a field
And faced a thousand men! And still
I denied my strength. Refused to work out.
Until, one day, that door was unlocked.
I heard that key turn, I swear! Still shut
I approached. Put my hand on the knob
Then pulled away, unturned. And there I sat
With numbers I my hands, for a month.
I read what I could find, prepared as best I could
Moreso than ever before.
in dialing, that knob was turned,
In speaking that door was opened
In awkwardness it all was dark
In vulnerability the light was lit
That voice not heard in forty years
Revealed a dozen rooms or more!
And to the chapel, there to kneel
For benefit of prayer
And the kitchens and the storerooms
Sitting room, screening room, the pool!
My god this place is huge! Gallery
After gallery began to unfold
The parlor now seems so small
Oh what little I knew then!
So now to summon that spirit
Of adventure that showed me Europe
And turn it to this grand house
Explore and experience and open every door
There is still much fear and habit
To overcome. But the rewards are great
This I know, I’ve seen more than ever before
And I haven’t even left this floor!
20160829
A great big block of a building with no features save for it’s edges
A handleless door every fifty feet or more, no visible entrance
One lone handle, pulled, leads into a tiny chamber, too small to lay down in
Electromagnet unlocks, door opens into a lobby space with security behind thick plexiglass
After approval the next portal opens into airlock, one must close, trapped,
before the next opens, onto conference rooms cubicles and vending machines
And still we are not in the belly of the beast, not yet to the meat of it, no
The final palm print reader opens into the warehouse of ideas
47 types of pipes overhead color coded and labeled accordingly
Rows and columns of cages constructed one by one by twenty two or more
Cooling units larger than my first apartment blasting through ductwork
fit for jacks nemesis, constantly blowing to keep their charges cool
Whisking away the heat of processors crunching through their code
In each cage, racks upon racks of stacks of servers some cloaked in chaotic
jumble of crossed cables colored like skittles candy
Others orderly, a huge investment in cash and effort, blue lights blinking
Wiring chases neatly stuffed with power on one side, data flowing on the other
Fifty thousand computers or more storing analyzing and serving up information
This is where we house the cloud, there is no cloud! It’s someone else’s server!
Fed endless electricity by duplicate generators about the size of a seven eleven
Tanks of diesel lined up like the docks in Linden new jersey feed the monsters in their zoo
Everything about your actual life it can possibly collect,
Everything you company does, every problem every triumph, in the cage next to you fiercest competitor
Your friends, your likes, who you’ve unfriended and after a brief AI analysis, why
And your entire digital world, your playground your escape, your bank accounts
It’s all here
20160427 Inspired by http://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-seven-2/
Those bloody bugs
Are up all night
Joined before dawn
By blathering birds
Harmonized by froggsong
Brook babble is the
Endless beat
citymouse imagines
Quiet country nights
But even here
Life is always calling
Eating moving fucking
Singing, shining forth
erbiage 