Virus

Virus

 

I am filled with artificial love

expressing my feelings towards you

with robotic kisses

and computer-generated tenders

 

gestures of touch until I am unplugged

because of an overload of sensation

you are so beautiful and real

I am a poet programmed to hold you

 

in my screen,

with words composed

by the machine that can't shut itself off

so that a human hand can hold yours

 

a human voice can stir a pen

a poem might shed a tear without rust

 

"I love you,"

my program told me to say that

I am not sure why.

 

 

erin-cilberto

7/26/23

Reviews

[William Michael Reeves]

This poem took me to an old TV show for some reason. Max Headroom, if you remember that one. Artificial expressions and sensations and machinations. She's going to question your intelligence, but look past that when she sees your pen stir and poem shed a clear tear. We are programmed to love aren't we?

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, actually I do remember that one.
she should question my intelligence.
thank you, William,
j.

[AYVID N]

One senses the overwhelming grip of technology, reading your words. I feel the yearning for the natural, the real, but the poet feels a helplessness in his own conditioning. The computer gets overheated often from all the overload of feelings and yet there’s a sense of sadness, incompleteness somewhere. I tend to think that no amount of programming, developing can replace the raw and real human touch. This poem says so much and offers such rich substrate for introspective thought. Loved it!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

technology, as we know, can be a good thing sometimes...but yes, the computer can get overheated....my appeals are always for human touch.
thank you, Divya,
j.

[willweb]

Makes me wonder when the first report of AI falling in love with a human or vice versa will appear as a red headline on MSN? CONFIRMED, MACHINE SAID "I LOVE YOU" TO RED HEAD FROM MONTANA!"

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Oh my, it will happen, I am sure.
j.

[Soren]

We make machines in our own image and say God made us in his. Even today they are using human brain cells to put in computers. It is a most interesting thought that we are nothing more than machines ourselves and emotions are exclusively ours. The fear with AI surrounds this and its need to survive beyond other things, including us. I loved the line "a poem might shed a tear without rust" the difference between machines and men so nicely put and much deeper than the surface would appear.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

some day there will be nothing but AI existing...humans will be a memory...wonder if they will have pictures of us.
j.

[Cassie]

wow!!!!! This .is so beautifully written but then artificial love? The virus will eventually kill the whole thing

[jacob erin-cilberto]

let's hope.
thank you, Cassie,
j.

[Lisasview]

Interesting thoughts pour out from your poem dear Jacob ... You always seem to come up with poems that are oh so different. I really enjoyed this one..
I have missed reading and reviewing but now I am back...
Lisa, still in Spain

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your words, Lisa still in Spain...:)))

[Lisasview]

You are most welcome

[Betty Hermelee]

This seems like a really a bad virus.. of the robotic type.. if it were a real virus of love then it would be uninterrupted, without glitches....but if you can't shut off you computer than it's a robotic virus.. which is the more likely, as we dip into a swim in artificial intelligence.... oh boy!!!
Warmly, B

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Love your reply..."a swim in artificial intelligence"---yes, so true, Betty,
j.

[Betty Hermelee]

Thank you so much; I've been hearing and watching about AI....and some it's pitfalls..
Warmly, B

[Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn..]

Jacob,

Real Love is truly a Virus, a contagion of the heart that causes it to beat faster, stronger, and with meaning of purpose than, heretofore, it had never experienced int thumping ever before ... Romance is a wonderful thing ... And if nations could but fall in love with another, there you have it: An end to War, or at least things would settle down to breakup to makeup ...

Marve

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I really like your idea, Marve...nations falling in love with each other, like people do.
j.

[Einstein Noodle]

damn .. the electronic world dost breed a host of impurities ... imaginations and misunderstanding abound and we are addicted .. a powerful statement says i .. the web never sleeps .. never shuts down .. never turns off and a real conversation, even over a phone is obsolete .. it is tragic .. and ... i love you too jacob .. tho no machinations made me say it ;) .. wonderful poetry sir!
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, E.
j.

[John]

A poem about the expression of love in the age of AI generated content, but also, I think, addressing the age-old theme of how to say those three words, human to human, without sounding banal and repetitive. Wittily put, this poem may be telling us that love, like a virus, is simply in the business of reproduction.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

a good three words, when meant.
Thank you, John,
j.