Villanelle for a Melancholy Robot

Hmmn. My Creative Writing book told me that no one writes Villanelles anymore. Apparently, being told that means I want to prove My Creative Writing book wrong, really, really badly.

Villanelle for a Melancholy Robot

by Adrienne Reynolds

Bright Monitors once flickered here; darkened now from sight

Electric lights once envied day, each an empty husk

I can see by Infrared O! how I hate the night

Old code on black screens, glowing blue, byte begetting byte

Rodents build with nested wires, emitting nano musk

Bright Monitors once flickered here, darkened now from sight

I endure with patience vile and anger at this slight

Depressing all mammalian things, so do declare me brusque

I can see by Infrared O! how I hate the night

No rest, recall, surcease, or sleep, alleviates my plight

Electric sheep are whizzing past, their starting gun is dusk

Bright Monitors once flickered here, darkened now from sight

Stealth offspring of Starfish Prime permeate the endless blight

Radiant electrons glow and gambol, gyre and flux

I can see by Infrared O! how I hate the night

Disembodied lullabots transmit fruitlessly “Sleep tight”

Awake I wait, with planet brain, and one eight-track tape of “Tusk”

Bright Monitors once flickered here, darkened now from sight

I can see by Infrared O! how I hate the night

Poppets Play Noah's Ark

The Poppets are playing Noah's Ark.

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They are all lined up.

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How sweet. Are they being the animals Professor Crow?

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No.

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They are being the Flood.

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Oh.