Robot City

I live in the city of Wanna-Be

In the State of Much-Too-Hard,

And watch for the all If-Only folk

Who stick to their own backyard,

The schools are breeding their robot kids

That I call, I-Know-My-Rights,

The courts acquit them of larceny

And turn them loose in the night.

 

And some are ticketed Not-My-Fault,

Or Somebody-else-Not-Me!

 Along with the other Why-Should-I?

They all just Wanna-Be-Free,

Then I-Had-A-Lousy-Childhood think

They can moan, and cry on the stairs,

While I have a word to answer them:

Find-Somebody-Who-Cares!

 

But often I notice, way out there

The ones who greet with a smile,

And nothing is Much-Too-Hard for them

They go for the extra mile,

The bus conductor who tips his cap,

The woman that works in the Mall,

These were the people I loved out there,

For they made me feel quite small.

 

One night I wandered along the streets

When everyone else was home,

I like to muse in the darkness when

The city is all alone,

Then somewhere out of the darkness loomed

A warehouse, painted black,

And the lights were on, and the door ajar

So I peeked, was taken aback.

 

For there on a line of hangers hung

Those folk I’d met in my day,

Hooked on a slow conveyor belt

They had nothing at all to say,

The woman there with her Can-I-Help

The conductor with glassy eyes,

Just hanging there ‘til the early dawn

When they’d be re-energised.

 

The girl with Have-A-Good Day was there,

And even the friendly cop,

The little old lady of Bless-You-All

That served in the pastry shop,

The young lad parking attendant who

Had said No-Trouble-Sir,

They all hung there on their hangers, marked

Robotics; What-Once-We-Were!

 

There must have been over a thousand there

Or maybe a little more

Along with the kindly You-Keep-Well

The Council were keeping score,

They’d tried to bring back civility

By giving us pleasant Robots,

To counter the surly Who-Could-Care?

With a thousand Forget-Me-Nots.

 

I cleared on out to the country where

The people waved from the fields,

I put my ear to the chests of some

To find they were really real,

There wasn’t a whirr or a ticking clock

So they caught me off my guard,

I’d never return to the city now

In the State of Much-Too-Hard!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Rob Santana]

wow,sounds like you are fortellin' our future as a human race. People seem to be walken around like robots being dehumanized by technology these days. My opinion, technology is a huge distraction that all governments use to their advantage. Governments continue to take over without anyone saying anything,because everyone is to busy walken around with their heads down hypnotized by their mobile devices. When everyone chooses to look up it will be to late.....

[Heather]

David this piece is brilliantly done. One of my favorites for sure. I loved how you constructed the poem. Thought provoking for sure.

[joshua deathdealer]

My thoughts on this read are racing through the hallways of my mind. Breaking through the corners and shedding light in even the darkest of areas. Earth shattering piece. Bravo.