Three Poems

Steven B. Katz

North Carolina State University
sbkeg@ncsuvm

 

A Computer File Named Alison

 

\For My Wife\

 

I dated a file named Alison, created
worlds in her name; but needed more space,
new memories to save, new files to live.
(After all, although the universe expands
at astronomic rates, it’s slowing down,
and there is only so much space inside machines.)

 

“Destroy Alison: Confirm,” the computer responded.
But what if she should die? I thought, and asked
aloud; what if when I push this button
she should really disappear
from the disc of the earth, constantly rotated, read
in this dark machine drive of the universe?

 

What if this cold, dumb, personal computer
should read and wholly misunderstand, and take me
literally, as impersonal as itself, and her atoms
be scattered through magnetic fields, dispersed
along the wires, and she should vanish mid the glitch
and circuitry of starts, drive lights red-

 

shifting, every trace (of her) erased
forever. “Destroy Alison: Confirm,” it repeated,
blindly blinking. Destroy Alison? I needed
more space, new memories to save,
new files to live. But oh I
could not confirm it could not confirm it . . . .

 

 

---

 

 

After Reading godel Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

 

(A Pantoum)

 

So this musical invention can begin:
push down into a paradoxical painting:
all formal theorems are incomplete:
every procedure’s a stranger loop

 

Push down into a paradoxical painting:
decisively shifting ambiguous foregrounds:
every procedure’s a stranger loop:
but ant colonies are closed systems

 

Decisively shifting ambiguous foregrounds:
all understanding is self-referential:
but ant colonies are closed systems:
the human mind is a programmed search

 

All understanding is self-referential:
DNA involves recursive translation:
the human mind is a programmed search:
but meaning is always a random concurrence

 

DNA involves recursive translation:
intelligence is a series of metalevels:
but meaning is always a random concurrence:
although perception is specifically encoded

 

Intelligence is a series of metalevels:
absolute consciousness a Zen Buddhist koan:
although perception is specifically encoded:
reality is just one of many possibilities

 

Absolute consciousness a Zen Buddhist koan:
language is the necessary software of thought:
reality is just one of many possibilities:
knowing involves simply networks of channels

 

Language is the necessary software of thought:
societies are hierarchies of information:
knowing involves simply networks of channels:
we can crawl only from stratum to stratum

 

Societies are hierarchies of information:
history’s the output at any given moment:
we can crawl only from stratum to stratum:
this process is surely becoming absurd

 

History’s the output at any given moment:
mathematical patterns thus slowly emerge:
this process is surely becoming absurd:
the mechanism as medium is direct and explicit

 

Mathematical patterns thus slowly emerge:
reproduction results in assembled transcriptions:
the mechanism as medium is direct and explicit:
the message is “the message is”

 

Reproduction results in assembled transcriptions:
bodies are merely so much hardware, support:
the message is “the message is”:
even numbers can be irrational

 

Bodies are merely so much hardware, support:
so this operation shall now be augmented:
even numbers can be irrational:
humans are artificial computers at heart

 

So this operation shall now be augmented:
powerful axioms generate universes:
humans are artificial computers at heart:
this procedure is redundant and infinitely long

 

Powerful axioms generate universes:
for proof jump out of the system:
this procedure is redundant and infinitely long:
but the human brain must bottom out

 

For proof jump out of the system:
out of the system we pop:
but the human brain must bottom out:
this musical invention will self-destruct

 

Out of the picture we pop:
these statements are most certainly true:
this musical invention will self-destruct:
and so now all this nonsense may finally stop

 

These statements are most certainly true:
but there will be harmonic resolution too:
and so now all this nonsense may finally stop:
these statements are all paradoxically false

 

 

---

 

In The Beginning

 
 
(To justify God’s ways to the 21st century)
 
 

#In the beginning was the computer. And God said
 
:Let there be light!
 
#You have not signed on yet.
 
:God.
 
#Enter user password.
 
:Omniscient.
 
#Password Incorrect. Try again!
 
:Omnipotent.
 
#Password Incorrect. Try again!
 
:Technocrat.
 
#And God signed on 12:01 a.m., Sunday, March 1.
 
:Let there be light!
 
#Unrecognizable command. Try again!
 
:Create light.
 
#Done.
 
:Run heaven and earth.
 
#And God created Day and Night. And God saw there were 0 errors.
#And God signed off at 12:02 a.m., Sunday, March 1.
#Approx. funds remaining: $92.50.

 
 
#And God signed on at 12:00 a.m., Monday, March 2.
 
:Let there be firmament in the midst of the water and
 
#Unrecognizable command! Try again!
 
:Create firmament.
 
#Done.
 
:Run firmament.
 
#And God divided the waters. And God saw there were 0 errors.
#And God signed off at 12:01 a.m., Monday, March 2.
#Approx. funds remaining: $84.60.
 
 

#And God signed on at 12:00 a.m., Tuesday, March 3.
 
:Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place
and let the dry land appear and
 
#Too many characters in string specification! Try again.
 
:Create dryland.
 
#Done!
 
:Run dryland.
 
#And God created Earth and Seas. And God saw there were
0 errors.
#And God signed off at 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, March 3.
#Approx. funds remaining: $65.00.
 
 

#And God signed on at 12:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 4.
 
:Create lights in the firmament to divide the day from the night.
 
#Unspecified type. Try again!
 
:Create sunmoonstars.
 
#And God created Sun, Moon, Stars. And God saw there were
0 errors.
#And God signed off at 12:01 a.m., Wednesday, March 4.
#Approx. funds remaining: $54:00.
 
 

#And God signed on at 12:00 a.m., Thursday, March 5.
 
:Create fish.
 
#Done.
 
:Create fowl.
 
#Done.
 
:Run fish’nfowl.
 
#And God created the great seamonsters and every living creature
that creepeth wherewith the waters swarmed after its kind and
every winged fowl after its kind. 0 errors.
#And God signed off at 12:01 a.m., Thursday, March 5.
#Approx. funds remaining: $45:00.
 
 

#And God signed on at 12:00 a.m., Friday, March 6.
 
:Create cattle.
 
#Done.
 
:Create creepy things.
 
#Done.
 
:Now let us make man in our image.
 
#Unspecified type! Try again.
 
:Create man.
 
#Done.
 
:Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it
and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over of the fowl
of the air and over every living thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
 
#Too many command operands! Try again.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#Execution terminated. 6 errors.
 
:Insert breath.
 
#O.K.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#Execution terminated. 5 errors.
 
:Move man to Garden of Eden.
 
#File Garden of Eden does not exist.
 
:Create Gard.En.
 
#Done.
 
:Move man to Gard.En.
 
#O.K.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#Execution terminated. 4 errors.
 
:Copy woman from man.
 
#O.K.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#Execution terminated. 3 errors.
 
:Insert woman into man.
 
#Illegal parameters. Try again!
 
:Insert man into woman.
 
#O.K.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#Execution terminated. 2 errors.
 
:Create desire.
 
#Done.
 
:Run multiplication.
 
#And God saw man’nwoman being fruitful and multiplying in the
Gard.En.
#Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
 
:Create freewill.
 
#Done.
 
:Run freewill.
 
#And God saw man’nwoman being fruitful and multiplying in the
Gard.En.
#Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
 
:Undo desire.
 
#Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created.
 
:Destroy freewill.
 
#Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
#Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.
 
:Help!
 
#Desire cannot be undone once freewill is created.
#Freewill is an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
#Enter replacement, cancel, or ask for help.
 
:Create Treeofknowledge.
 
#And God saw man’nwoman being fruitful and multiplying in the
Gard.En.
#Warning: No time limit on this run. 1 errors.
 
:Create good’nevil.
 
#Done.
 
:Activate evil.
 
#And God saw he had created shame.
#Warning: System error in sector E95. Man’nwoman not in Gard.En.
#1 errors.
 
:Scan Gard.En. for man’nwoman.
 
#Man’nwoman cannot be located. Try again!
 
:Search Gard.En. for man’nwoman.
 
#Search failed.
 
:Delete shame.
 
#Shame cannot be deleted once evil has been activated.
 
:Destroy freewill.
 
#Freewill an inaccessible file and cannot be destroyed.
 
:Stop!
 
#Unrecognizable command. Try again.
 
:Break
:Break
:Break
 
#ATTENTION ALL USERS ATTENTION ALL USERS: COMPUTER GOING DOWN FOR
REGULAR DAY OF MAINTENANCE AND REST IN FIVE MINUTES. PLEASE
SIGN OFF.
 
:Create new world.
 
#You have exceeded your allotted file space. You must destroy
old files before new ones can be created.
 
:Destroy earth.
 
#Destroy earth. Please confirm.
 
:Destroy earth confirmed.
 
#COMPUTER DOWN. COMPUTER DOWN. SERVICES WILL RESUME ON SUNDAY
MARCH 8 AT 6:00 A.M. YOU MUST SIGN OFF NOW!
 
#And God signed off at 11:59 p.m., Friday, March 6.
#And God he had zero funds remaining.