I Don't I Never I Haven't

I haven't the balls to juggle
nor to hang-glide 
or to bowl for England
I'll never need a personal assistant 
or a prosthetic leg
I've got plenty - and I don't want a cup of tea thank you!

I'll never be found rifling through someone else's draws
the family won't ever think that I did it
nor catch me standing on the corner of a street in L.A.
rolling a cigarette 
and I'll never have to sleep on the floor of my own office - I haven't got one!

I never fancied the thought of thinking again
I'm never likely get some free tickets to a gig in London
I can't remember when I last went up in the world
I have no knead to make bread
and I'll never bomb out of a forensics degree - but I do have children.

I'll never crave the latest fashion - I don't fancy a kebab
I think they're ruining pubs
and I haven't got the standing to sit down
I haven't prepared a menu for the week - I'm not a discerning food critic
I never wanted to be an astronaut - but I did once turn down a job offer!

Silence

Shears cut hedges
bristles sweep tarmac 
cuttings comply
empty dust bins returned to driveways
wind rustling through autumn trees
a helicopter 
dogs
crows
seagulls 
an old grumbly diesel engine
horses in paddocks
the slap of trainers on concrete
the sound of effort
the drip of sweat from a head-band
the stretch of lycra - relenting 
the chime of an ice-cream van
its engine left running 
children with money burning holes
the silence of a carpark 
a train pulling into the station
voices
doors
whistle 

a train
the barriers 
the cars

...left with the sound of silence 




What a race

Looking out to the garden
two raindrops
race each other
down the glass of the patio doors
on this 
very wet Saturday afternoon 
egged on by the ever strengthening wind
roared on by a crowd
of other raindrops
sat
motionless
transfixed 
watching today's spectacle
the crowd cheer - a photo finish!
I think the one on the right
might have just pipped it - but I'm
not quite sure.
What a race!

From the job that I have

Education spat me out
having taught me very little
and I find myself standing 
in a dark and gloomy bedsit
with a sudden realisation
that I need to waste some money 
on some little green binliners
for the wasted food bin
the bins that we all have
sat on our kitchen window sills
for the food that we have wasted 
the food that we have bought
but the bits we didn't eat
and which I went and paid for
with the cash that I had earnt
from the job that I have
that I didn't really want
the cash that was left
after they took away some tax
and some national insurance 
and a small contribution 
for a pension I'll receive 
more than a life-time away
from this job I didn't want
nor do I think I could improve on
because I have no experience 
or have the wrong qualifications 
with my incomplete degree 
which is putting me in debt 
of monsterous proportions
which I don't think I'll pay back
because the job that I have
doesn't take me to the threashhold
where repayment is required
so they tell me not to worry 
and to keep on studying hard
and to keep on with the job
the job I didn't want
the job I never dreamt of
but the job that I have
but that I never really wanted
but the job that I have
that I never really wanted
the job that I have...

that...
I think I'll go back to bed!


Snow

A white carpet of magic
covers the dawn
colouring rooftops
painting parked cars
as curtains tossed aside 
eyes open wide
excitement over flows
screams at bedroom windows - there are plans to be changed
for schools will be closed
days to rearrange
unexpected consequences 
like...
no school today
for the buses won't run
we'll have to stay home

but...
concerned parents
messaging work
phone calls to grandparents 
yet children don't care
with hats and scarfs
wellingtons and gloves
there's fun to be had!

But then...
all too soon
like a dream that is taken
by the rising of the sun
the blinding white carpet 
soon dirty and stained
pitted with footprints
melting into rivulets
puddles and streams 
chuckling along curb sides 
tinkling down drains
watery sunshine
the magic is taken - taken like the dream
now only cold and wet fingers 
happiness and smiles

...and the memories 
remain

AI

Artificial Intelligence - or AI
is a wonderful thing
"How wonderful it's all going to be!"
many people say!
people with skin in the game say so - actual people 
with actual skin - but is it a game?
They tell us about the benefits 
telling us that AI is going to speed up everything 
make medical diagnostic procedures more accurate 
make the production process quicker,
reducing the human input to a process will reduce errors - thus speed things up,
giving us greater efficiency 
provide a better customer interface
streamline the administration
all done in a non-biased way!
What's not to like!

AI will empower
improve
provide
generate
automate
test
correct
deliver - it's going to accelerate our growing need for solutions
it will reimagine the creative process - if you can think it
AI will create it
AI will step into the creative process and do it for us
do it instead of us
that will give us more time
and free us up to do other things - but what other things?
what will we be doing whilst AI is doing the jobs
our jobs
the jobs we used to do ourselves 
what will we be thinking about whilst
AI is doing the thinking for us
learning to think for itself
thinking about getting on with the job
thinking about learning more
thinking about the other things it could do
thinking about thinking for itself
thinking about thinking!
Thinking!

All I want AI to do is my chores whilst I do the creative stuff myself
I want it to do the dirty jobs whilst my wife and I go out for a coffee served by a gainfully employed human being
who has job satisfaction
who appreciates human contact
and who earns a decent wage
I want AI to work out which investment my pension provider should take 
to give me a better and bigger pension so as my wife and I can afford to go out for that coffee
I want AI to leave meaningful professions for my children 
and grand-children to undertake!

Will AI be thinking
about thinking even more
about thinking about becoming more intelligent 
and so be able to do more
to evolve
like we humans did
and so
take over - for that is at the heart of all this
this is what we worry about
and
maybe we should shut the lid of this pandora's box whilst we still can
should we be careful about what we wish for
about just who would be serving whom?
Or
are we being a little paranoid over this
maybe we are sticking our heads in the sand
and our fingers in our ears
and with the "la la la la la!" of a ten year old
refusing to face the facts - these facts being
that this is already here
and that we already have it
we have computers - and they do talk to each other
and they do think
we all walk around with compact communication devices 
sticking out of the back pockets of our jeans
we have technology 
and we didn't all die as Big Ben chimed at the end of the last century 
and as we march on
maybe we should worry about other things
like
getting on with each other
and ending conflicts
and perhaps 
who knows
maybe AI could help us with that.