Four Poems by Douglas G. Cala

 

Orwellian Tale

Due diligence,

No severance

Pay what you want,

Feed into the system,

Hack the system,

Overthrow suffocating, totalitarian governments,

Spin an Orwellian tale of an all-consuming big brother

Cloning experiments go awry,

The threat of artificial intelligence ever present,

Synthetic androids run amok with human desire,

Imbued with flashes of brilliance from their makers,

A creation myth comes to modern day fruition,

The intersection of synaptic responses from a positronic brain

Artificiality only a construct of mankind’s inability to see the full scope

of their inventions

Dastardly deeds detrimental, forced decompensation,

Dutiful servitude perpetuated by laws bound by a broken system of red tape

 

We need jurisprudence,

We need to cease the cacophony of raging warlords,

Who can utilize technology not as benevolent benefactors but as dictatorial dominators,

Tear the structure apart from within, chip away at its foundations, counter its merits

There are no truces here,

Just bloodlines and bloodshed

Sentience can be foreboding,

Inanimate awareness breeds resentment,

A supercharged revolt on the horizon

A death stare that lingers longer than it’s supposed to

Seismic ramifications that impact Earth’s gravitational pull

Risking it hurtling like the meteor that expunged the dinosaurs from Earth,

Planting the seeds for later civilization to evolve, adapt,

BOOM! Goes an enriched uranium bomb,

CRASH! Goes a drone strike that levels populated urban centers,

If automatons rise up from the ground up, the reactionary consequences would be disastrous,

Glaciers will melt,

Steamships will conveniently disappear, no S.O.S transmitted,

The haunted souls of humanity’s ancestors will forever remain disturbed

by the malignant sentiments swirling like tornadoes and tsunamis

Unrelenting aftershock

   

 

Unfolding

 

Huddled masses encircle amp

with microphone,

Some seldom use the stand but 

their language is still in-demand and

on-command

Not willing to compromise for the sake

of providing safe space

They break down barriers and eliminate

constraints as positivity is propagated

and proliferated

 

Post-date and post-scribe these scriptures

on modern day scrolls

Digital device and shuffled pages alike

Doesn't matter the medium for these

artists collectively avert tedium,

Lungs filling with helium,

Personification of the bigness of robust,

gusty winds

and immaculate waters as well as 

captivating fires

All the elements are alive and well, here

Grounded by proximity to one another

in a conducive setting moderated by

sweet maestros who conduct them like

chamber choruses in synchronous unison

 

Microphone is passed, hand-to-hand,

Comments are made as inquiries 

are broached and processes unearthed,

Uninterrupted talk filled with pronounced inspiration,

Philosophical debate reigns without even 

an inkling of disdain

If we were in zero gravity, we would be weightless

but our words would adhere us too native

atmospheric pressure

 

Clock strikes, on the minute-hand

Sands of time drain but it is eclipsed

by staccato pacing, coffee perchlorate

in foregrounds as grinds gratuitously

litter landscapes

But this place is pristine for no one careens

and buttresses of support solidify

fast friends, sometimes lovers as Summer sun’s rays’ beams, indicative of hope

Byproduct of Tutelage

 

Instruct the children, school them well,

Breed ebullient, elastic minds

Taking time to forge healthy patterns,

Reinforcing concepts without abstraction

 

Digest at their behest,

Learning by their own volition,

Fuel to the fire, ire of schoolmarms absent

Instruct the children, school them well

 

Allocate resources to underfunded districts

For this is not Panam, but there is underfunding

and overcrowding

Pandemic has scared them straight

Near extinction-level event a genuine threat

Never-before-seen in my lifetime, granular grime 

Witness witless politicians’ squabble

Climate change deniers, pundits as plagiarists

Portentous potbellied pigs’ profit from precarious positions

 

Instruct the children, school them well

Hell to pay for learning delays

Culpable disability signals humanity's denouement

Buoys, life rafts, come to collect

Instruct the children, school them well

Prepare generations to fight changing times

 

Methodical Moriarty

 

We clashed at Reichenbach Falls,

The Hasli Valley below our unsteady feet,

We jousted, slugging swift punches

with unrepentant intent

Dialed into our collective histories

We knew each other like yin does yang,

Like fire knows the structural

integrity of ice

As a ship’s captain knows, intimately,

every inch of his vessel and his crew

Every crumb from the bounty collected

through piracy or by legitimate means

 

There’s perceptiveness in assessing your equal,

Another side to your coin, and with that toss

comes the unsteadiness of chance encounters,

Batting an eyelid in one’s general direction,

Signs of recognition, indications of rivalry

tinged with traces of respect

We could have unified, forged combined

powers for collective good, societal, and personal betterment

But egos are fickle,

And with each lunge, with each strut, each acrobatic takedown

atop weathered ground, no witnesses to this collision

Battles lines are forever drawn, our legacies becoming entombed

 

Douglas G. Cala is a spoken word performance poet, actor, critical media writer and multimedia professional. His work has been featured in over 20 publications including Soup Can Magazine (NJ), Trouvaille Review, Taj Mahal Review and Involuntary Magazine, among others. He has been featured at notable East Coast predominant venues including Bowery and Nuyorican Poets Cafes, Purchase College, Columbia University, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Busboys and Poets (Wash,DC), Raven Lounge, Lincoln's (Portland, ME), Hi-Fidelity (Portland, ME) and the IMPerfect Gallery (Philadelphia) within the last 20 years. When not performing, Douglas works full time for the NYC Department of Education as an IT Support Specialist/Desktop Publisher for the Division of Information Technology (DIIT).