I wrote this a while ago, back in a poetry class in college. I found it the other day, and figured I’d share it with the world.<\/p>\n
Ode to my Computer<\/strong><\/p>\n Thirty-odd years of research and development In some factory in Taiwan, From rocks and sand and blistering heat I wonder, sometimes, at how it was designed. What an engineering marvel! What a technological triumph! I can remember all of its predecessors, primitive as they Bigger and better, faster and cheaper. Power in, power out. AC to DC, 12 volts steady. What wonders and miracles have come forth from this screen? Pop a CD in, and I can make music. Chips, cards, sockets and slots. Beautiful, colorful wires and circuit boards, Hidden in its heart Forever outdoing itself, Ode to my Computer: A Poem by Keith M. Survell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[390],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","tag-poems","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-5J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/12\/02\/games-for-the-computer-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":0},"title":"Games for the Computer Children","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Games for the Computer Children: a poem by Keith M. Survell.","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":647,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/09\/18\/poems-re-posted\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":1},"title":"Poems, re-posted","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I've posted some old poems of mine from my Infinity Pages website here, because I'm going to be taking Infinity Pages down later on.","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4436,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2013\/07\/11\/the-deepest-dark\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":2},"title":"The Deepest Dark","author":"Keith Survell","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[Poem] In the deepest dark of the night...","rel":"","context":"In "poems"","block_context":{"text":"poems","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/poems\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":626,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/09\/18\/your-touch\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":3},"title":"Your Touch","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Your Touch: A Poem, by an anonymous contributor.","rel":"","context":"In "poems"","block_context":{"text":"poems","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/poems\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":644,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/09\/18\/man\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":4},"title":"Man","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Man: A poem by Keith M. Survell.","rel":"","context":"In "poems"","block_context":{"text":"poems","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/poems\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":629,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/09\/14\/night\/","url_meta":{"origin":355,"position":5},"title":"Night","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Night: A Poem by Keith M. Survell.","rel":"","context":"In "poems"","block_context":{"text":"poems","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/poems\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWent into making it what it is today.
\nPrecision technology, assembled
\nFrom the far corners of the Earth.<\/p>\n
\nCountless faceless nameless workers
\nInspect your heart, your brain
\nAnd all your limbs.<\/p>\n
\nCame the silicon upon which it is built.
\nOres of tin and iron, melted into copper and steel,
\nMake up the rest of your structure.<\/p>\n
\nSome engineer sitting at his desk,
\nTracing connections on paper that will one day
\nBe molded into silicon, at a million times smaller scale.<\/p>\n
\nCircuits too small to be seen, mass-produced,
\nAnd sent around the world. How many other nameless twins
\nDoes my computer have, locked away in some dark office?<\/p>\n
\nSeem now. Back then, they were \u201cstate of the art,\u201d
\nFleshed in heavy steel frames and plastic covers.
\nNow they\u2019re paperweights.<\/p>\n
\nThey sure don\u2019t make \u2018em like they used to!
\nNow, just a little touch of static
\nIs Death.<\/p>\n
\nIts innards rumble, a familiar sound to me.
\nHow much of my life have I spent
\nWith my fingers poised on these plastic keys?<\/p>\n
\nWhat noble purpose can I put this machine to now?
\nWho would have guessed, at age 10, that I would
\nMake a living at playing games?<\/p>\n
\nClick at the keys, and I can write poetry.
\nPoint at the screen, and I can create art.
\nTalk to it, and it talks back!<\/p>\n
\nAdapters, modulators, ports and peripherals.
\nCPU, CMOS, BIOS, RAM
\nLCD, LED, HDD.<\/p>\n
\nAll hidden behind the same beige face
\nThat every computer wears. Like the people that
\nbuilt them, computers are faceless.<\/p>\n
\nIs a treasure trove of information.
\nNothing but bits and bytes, to it.
\nOnly through me can they have meaning.<\/p>\n
\nThis is more than a faceless machine.
\nThis computer
\nIs mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"