Conjure. Rae Armantrout
an intelligent
agent
and then prevent it
from destroying this world?
“Content monitoring
that required the AI’s
intentional states
to be transparent
might not be feasible
for all architectures.”
A long green straw
stuck in the ground
with two ears (leaves)
protruding
on either side
at intervals
What we meant
by “listening stations”
and when we began
to mean this.
Perhaps its goal would be
to have “thoughts”
pass through its “head”
so it could record them.
“Preparedness is critical.”
“Kiss all hope goodbye.”
“A friend wants you to like it.”
LIKE
Small white lights
twined around white
dead sticks
under a glass dome
flash—
like getting an idea
was the idea.
Like thinking
I want to fall asleep,
each night coming so soon
after the last,
and hosting a string
of tedious dreams
like trying to get back
to my office.
I head
back in
to clear it
out,
my head
PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS
1
What are your interests?
I’m interested in the way
interest
creates finitude.
Differently translated,
“in choosing itself,
existing being
closes a circuit.”
Now every sixteen seconds,
the engine will pass the brakeman
with his arm always raised
beside the empty station.
2
What do you want to do?
All impulses come
from the gods,
as we know,
and lead god knows where,
though each hero
has her own set
of god-given epithets,
“Insta-bright”
and
“All-dimming”
MY LOVE
1
As love settles briefly
on a houseplant,
a shoe,
and with steady purpose
keeps moving
until it climbs the wall,
the sun
2
They say hate is love
turned sour
because it was unwelcome
where it paused.
More often, love’s worn thin
by wrapping itself
around unwieldy things
3
Let our eyelids
lie flat
and spread
like lily pads
beside themselves
on a murky pond
TEST
This is only a test,
I was told often.
I was trying
to count down
to you.
Five pointed leaves.
Five-petaled flowers.
Starfish.
I had been cautioned
not to point.
Feats of balance
might be the solution.
Perky sepals
back-combed
around the flower’s
sticky note.
GUISES
I come up
again and again
as if from the ground,
as if