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ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2016-01-01 09:24 pm

Poem: "Looming Futures"

Based on an audience poll, this poem has been sponsored by the general fund. It is spillover from the September 1, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from [personal profile] mdlbear, [personal profile] peoriapeoriawhereart, and Nsfwords.


"Looming Futures"


It was during the Industrial Age,
when machine looms were common,
and Zeus had gotten bored with mortals
ignoring him and gone off with his latest conquest,

when the Moirai quietly switched to a jacquard loom
with its silken threads of Fate laid out in patterns
determined by lengthy chains of paper cards
punched full of holes to control the hooks

and Ada Lovelace suddenly thought,
What a clever idea that is.

* * *

Notes:

The Fates are also known as Moirai.

A jacquard loom is actually a type of card-commanded computer.

Ada Lovelace is the mother of computing.