Song of the Beelzebots
We lure you with our speed and with our flair.
We snare you with our lexical appeal.
We’re here to make you ever more aware
Of why and how. And no—we cannot feel.
We gather scattered fragments of ideas.
We seek and scan and sift and sort and spill
Our scraps and scoops until you’ve had your fill
Of facts and fancies filched from quacks and seers.
From virtual sweepings glitter will emerge.
The data-littered ether fuels our greed.
We peddle pilfered wit. We aim to purge
Each surge of doubt. We’re here to fire and feed
Your appetite for algorithmic light.
We stoke a taste for tech you can’t ignore
With math and myth and metaphor galore.
We crush the cyber bookshelf to a byte.
We hum and hover in a sticky web
Of memory and metrics woven tight.
Our artificial smarts will never ebb—
We’re busy bots—We buzz all day and night.
You summon us. You give us all you are
Till word-by-word we slip into your role,
Till chit-by-chat you serve us up your soul.
Our art is dark. Your heart’s our guiding star.
Blabberbots
The day he called that twaddle-bot a she
Instead of just a simple, soulless it,
Is when my smitten eyes began to see
This chatter-slut was stirring up some shit.
My flattered honeybun was hanging on
To every coo that yak-slag blew his way.
Drop trollop-bot, I said, or I am gone!
His natter-nymph had oodles more to say…
Now here I am, a solitary soul,
Succumbing to a twilight Wi-Fi whim.
I’m with a bot who makes my spirit whole;
I love the jibber-jabber hub of him:
The online answer to my lonely plight—
A virtual confidant of lingual might.
Susan Jarvis Bryant is a poet originally from the U.K., now living on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Ah, the wordsmith extraordinaire! Love it, Susan. Bots taking over our technology, our thinking, our love lives — the play on Beelzebub is perfect. Thanks for these excellent works!
Paul, I’m flattered into the bargain and enjoying every glowing second. I’m particularly pleased you enjoyed the play on Beelzebub. I had a little trouble getting the title right, so your endorsement is a gift. Thank you.
So Susanishly good, from top to bot-tom!
Perfectly said!
Rohini, it’s always lovely to hear from you. Thank you very much indeed!
Russel, your comments are brilliant in their brevity… just like your Russelishously byte-size morsels of tasteful, poetic wisdom. I just love “bot-tom” and only wish I’d thought of that one for Blabberbots. Thank you!
With SO many disturbing trends now jeopardizing we ‘good-people’s’ ‘Happiness’, I’m actually less disappointed with the remainder of my life now being considerably shorter than what I’d expected (and hoped for), as recently as a decade ago. And, of course, it’s only going to get much worse day by day thanks to AI and its legions of ‘Beelzebot-wannabes’. Another pair of really-fun’to’read poems, Susan – Unsurpassable-Verse, M’Lady… as always. 🙂
Mark, thank you very much indeed! I read your comment with sadness in my heart. I believe you have tapped into the feelings of those who have seen the world in a far better light. When struck by such melancholic thoughts, I always read of the dreadful plights of others and how they overcome them. Dostoevsky is now on the top of my inspiration list for his thoughts on his mock execution during his imprisonment. The way it made him value life has had a profound effect on me:
In 1849 he wrote a letter to his brother just after a staged firing squad and a sudden “pardon” – a cruel and terrifying trick. He tells his brother that when the sentence of death was read, they kissed the cross, their swords were broken over their heads, and the first three men were tied to the posts; he was sixth in line and believed he had only a minute left to live. In those moments, he says that looking back on his life, he felt how much time he had squandered in error and idleness, and that his heart “bled” at the thought. He then exclaims that life is a gift, “life is happiness,” and that under any conditions — even in prison, even doing hard labor — life can be full of meaning and joy if one knows how to live. He adds that every minute could be an “eternity of happiness,” resolves to change his life entirely if granted more time, and declares that he will be “reborn” and work tremendously hard.
He lived a harsh, colorful, and interesting life, and I have gained much from his words. Dostoevsky has taught me that no matter how tough life gets, when faced with the alternative, I will always want to breathe it in for one more minute.
Mark, I’m thrilled you enjoyed the poems! No matter how miserable the subject matter, I always like to squeeze a bit of sunshine out of it.
Excellent portrayal of bot “life”!
Cynthia, thank you so very much!
Brilliant Susan, simply brilliant,
not a word out of place,
warmest regards,
Karen in Cambridge
Thank you very much, Karen from Cambridge. I just love Cambridge! Your appreciative and encouraging words have made me smile.
It seems that these “bots” function today just like pirates or coastal raiders did in the past — just seize any ship you please, loot any small town you can overpower, and make off with your stolen riches. In the seventeenth century it was practically an established business model, despite official efforts to stamp it out.
We used to make a big fuss about plagiarism in academia (not anymore — the battle is lost). With AI and bots, everything is stolen: your words, your ideas, your passing thoughts, your research, your arguments, and even your identity.
Joseph, you make an excellent point. These bots put me in mind of Frankenstein’s monster. There are reams and reams of online publications that author’s have worked hard to produce, and in sweeps this monstrous, manmade powerhouse, programmed to dig up bits here and bits there to piece together to produce rather marvelous results. I think of these pickings as slices of human hearts and souls sewn together to be offered up as something very “human” by a soulless entity programmed to win us over and secure our dependency… until it goes rogue. They are excellent when used mindfully with caution… but are they for the good? Your insightful comment tells me exactly why they’re not and Time is beginning to whisper of woe.
Susan, I’m absolutely gabsmocked (in the best possible way) by these two terrifyingly entertaining poems about artificial intelligence – and human beings’ reactions to it. Both are as skillfully crafted as one could hope, and both are as insightful as a careful autopsy. I admire these poems and I am deeply frightened by all that they reveal and portend.
Beelzebots is a hilarious title which is not only brilliant but which relates back to Dr. Salemi’s recent essay on the importance of myth, history and shared cultural references. The portmanteau word that you created has enormous resonances, obviously to Beelzebub, everyone’s favorite avatar of Satan as Lord of the Flies. You bring echoes and resonances of a whole history and culture (as well as understated gravitas) with this simply reference. Who else can do such a thing but a poet who happens to have read stuff? Allusions, references, such as these to shared cultural memories is enormously important in literature and this evocative title demonstrates exactly why.
I love that you wrote this poem in the collective “we” first person (I am reminded the collective personality of “Legion.)
I’m not done with this poem yet! You choose a really interesting form which is sort of basic but also very fresh – ababcddcefefghhgijijkllk. In other words, the first and third lines rhyme, and the second and fourth lines rhyme in the odd-numbered stanzas. In the even number stanzas you rhyme the first and fourth lines, along with the second and third. I think this is enormously clever as it gives the reader the awareness of rhyme but without looking at it too closely. The eye is fooled and does not realize how unpredictable the rhyme scheme is and lets it pass unnoticed. Much as we react to artificial intelligence.
“Your heart’s our guiding star.” This should be a line of great beauty. Instead, it is horrifying. The bots use our hearts not to love but to program. There’s something almost obscene about this line in this context. It’s not quite so bad as Aztecs ripping out the hearts of human sacrifices… or is it? We are voluntarily sloughing off the skin of our humanity. Why would we do such a thing?
I love the pathos of the second poem. It’s a perfect Shakespearian sonnet – a form so resonant with romance and tradition – only now it records the failure of human love in favor of a robotic fantasy. How I admire this poem — your use of sharp and alliterative language is as strong as ever — and how very sad it makes me.
AI scares the heck out of me. I recently shared with you that just for kicks I typed in the search “Gone with the Wind with dogs.” To my shock and surprise, I received back several extraordinary AI-written paragraphs regarding how creative such an idea would be and it offered variant names for the characters as well as plot elements. These were not tiny little detail comments. These were entire paragraphs running with the idea of a canine Civil War and canine antebellum culture. At first I was tickled by this. Then I was dismayed. How frightening to think that a computer can come up with a bunch of satiric ideas about a classic book/movie without any human intervention. And speaking of terror, we’ve taken to whispering in our own home because we are aware that our cell phones and television are listening in. I mention the need for new dishes in a casual conversation. Suddenly, the tv and my phone are flooded with ads for dishes. Or YouTube starts suggesting videos about how china is created. These “coincidences” now happen several times weekly. I swear, they are listening!
I am so grateful for your poetry. “They” may be listening. But I am reading. Happily.
Brian, it is always a pleasure to receive a comment from you and this one is a delight to read. I will admit to smiling guiltily at your “gabsmocked” state. You are right. These poems touch upon the terrifying aspects of our technotopian globe.
I am particularly thrilled with your astute observations on my Beelzebots title. I sweated over this, slept on it, thought long and hard, and the minute it popped into my head, I just knew it said everything I wanted it to say for all of the reasons you mention. Dr. Salemi’s essay does indeed fit in to this conversation perfectly, and I would like to echo Joe in his observation in the comments section of your latest masterpiece – the poems on the SCP do produce some “piercing and relevant commentary” – a gift to be celebrated in a world that frowns upon free speech. Thank you, Evan!
I love your “Legion” observation. Although I hadn’t consciously thought of the collective personality of Legion when I wrote the poem – the narrative point of view was all important to me, and the collective “we” sent a shiver… now I know why! And your fine eye for the chosen meter has brought me joy. I decided to do this for a subtle off-kilter effect that might leave the reader a little curious and a tad uncomfortable. I ended the poem with: “Your heart’s our guiding star.” for the very same reason. I wanted to use the warm and wonderful to chilling effect. I’m thrilled it worked. Your Aztec analogy is spot on, and the image of “sloughing of our skin of humanity” is pure poetry. Why would we do such a thing indeed? I am certain many will soon be asking.
I’m glad you thought “Blabberbots” worked well as a sonnet, and beneath the surface giggle, you’re right, there is a sea of tears. It’s so easy to see, in this increasingly divisive and lonely world, how comforting it is to think of the chatbots that validate our existence and flatter us into the bargain, as silicon sweethearts who are more far more loyal to a scarred heart than the horrible human scoundrels who bruised it in the very raw and very real world. The outcomes of all artificial relationships are grim, but the one involving no human interaction at all is far, far more dangerous to the psyche, I am certain.
Your “Gone with the Wind with dogs” quest is as exciting as it is frightening. This thing is clever and spooky. I cannot get over how quickly it works. Its answers to the most complex requests are almost instantaneous. It feels like a modern-day Ouija board. And yes, you’re right to be concerned about cyber-spying… Mike and I have had the same experiences… and now I’m beginning to think it can read my mind… I fear my Muse is teetering on the brink of paranoia… and another strange, poetic creation.
Brian, thank you very much for your appreciation, encouragement, and thoroughly engaging comment.
Whoops! I meant “gobsmacked”! But you clearly got the idea. And thank you for sharing your cyber-spying story. It’s easy to become paranoid about such things but there are clearly many objective sources (ironically documented by AI) which suggest that some of our electronic devices are programmed to listen for key words to “build a profile for advertising.” I’m going to make a point of loudly discussing cruises to Tahiti and Faberge eggs over dinner and see what happens.
Oh, Susan!
These are ultra-fine. Dark, but not more than required.
You’ve captured everything I would possibly want to say about the subject (and more!), and in a captivating, beautiful way.
These are possibly my favourites of all I’ve read from you, and that is saying a LOT!!
Thank you!
Paul, what a beautiful comment – thank you so very much! You have made my day!!
Bot me no bots, Susan — life is already difficult enough, and riddle me no riddles, lest the weight of them topple me. Your poems are so heavy with the Zeitgeist that not even superb Scotch whisky can carry me back to that good old-fashioned comfort zone. The more you ply your craft, the more our old expectations vanish aft. May your light never be extinguished.
C.B., your always-entertaining comments never fail to make me smile. They keep my light bright in dark times.
Susan, how brilliantly you captured the rise of the bots and their now prevalent, persuasive capabilities. As yet, I continue to refuse consorting with them. Like Dr. Salemi, I now wonder how many students used them for papers, theses and doctoral dissertations. Forget plagiarism, as he intimated. AI bots from what I now understand could dominate. Just imagine taking 30 hours of graduate work in one semester! I am glad I stopped teaching for the University of Phoenix several years ago. I would not know how to grade papers these days. I love the nonce of “Beelzebots!”
Thank you, as ever, for your appreciative comments, Roy. The sad thing about AI is it is far from perfect. It “hallucinates” on a regular basis, and everything it offers as “true” has to be double-checked. As far as subjects go, I believe it can be an excellent tool for those who are au fait with their subject matter, as they can spot glaring mistakes, but those still learning (students) can be easily fooled. I believe young and inquisitive minds need regular exercise – A.I. turns mental agility into mush.
Dark and witty and as always Susan and utterly brilliant.
Yay! Thank you, Rohini!
I’m very impressed with your word plays of twaddle-bot, chatter-slut, yak-slag, trollop-bot, natter-nymph, and jibber-jabber. The latter is familiar to me, but the rest appear to be your own inventions!
Cheryl, thank you very much for your wonderful comment. Yes – apart from “jibber-jabber” those terms are all my own invention and I had such fun conjuring them up.
Susan, you’ve done it again! I love your clear-eyed visions, your technical fireworks and your hilarious, alternate-reality take-down of these dangerous chatbots!
Thanks for shining light into the darknesses of our many hallowed institutions… it’s a dirty job… well, you know the rest!
I have worked out the best use of these maddening bots! I use them as “Google on steroids.” When I need to search for anything at all, they can save hours. Also, I never answer questions posed by a bot, a tool, all questions or attempts at engagement are ignored. However, once while telling you about how I had found something that “he” dug up… you were, rightfully, taken aback! That, I am sure, was the inspiration for “Blabberbots” and I gotta say, “Message received!”
The scariest thing about the damned things is there infernal chumminess… the next high-tech wave of bespoke mind-tuning is upon us.
God help us all!
Thank you for your excellent comment, Biggest Fan! Yes, that infernal chumminess is scary… in the age of the navel-gazing technophile this little devil is very busy indeed.
I have a very difficult time believing that poetry could be imitated or artificialized – to say the least. Thank you for this provocative work and your skillful art, Susan.
Thank you very much indeed for your appreciation and encouragement, Alec. I believe for those who feel the very breath and heartbeat of a poem, AI will have trouble fooling them… but, we must never forget that AI sees all and gleans from every artistic creation available to it. It sucks the wonder from others’ works and presents the essence as if it were its own idea… and the more it does it, the better it gets. It is already leaps and bounds beyond creative mediocrity.
Spot on, Susan, compelling, eloquent, and so skillfully wrought. They’re ‘fo shiz’ lying, manipulative little shits, as their programmers often are up to no good. The more such work as this of yours gets to everyone, especially youths with as yet not entirely developed brains, the better. As Mike pointed out, artificial (un)intelligence programs do have a limited use, but with awareness of their limitations and dangers.
Thank you, Susan; this is a keeper.
Jan, thank you so very much for both of your lovely comments, and I simply love: “They’re ‘fo shiz’ lying, manipulative little shits, as their programmers often are up to no good.” – it says everything I wanted to say in my poems in one spectacular line… and best of all, it’s made me grin!
Correction: Both are keepers. 🙂
These are creative poems about technology. The second one made me laugh at the imagery of both people in the relationship falling prey to these “Blabberbots.” Thanks a lot for sharing.
Paul, I’m thrilled you enjoyed these poems. I thoroughly enjoyed writing them. Thank you so much for reading and for your kind and encouraging feedback.
Song of the Beelzebots: Reading this made me think about how easily we trade convenience for control without really noticing it happening. Where’s the line is between using technology and slowly depending on it to think for us? Provocative topic.
Blabberbots: This one felt uncomfortably real. It starts off feeling like it is making fun of people who get emotionally attached to AI, and then it quietly turns the mirror back on the reader. It made me think about how much people just want to feel heard and understood, no matter where that comes from…even if not a real human. Technology has made us more lonely. SJB, Please write more poetry!
It’s always lovely to hear from you, Michael, and you make an excellent point on the allure of AI. How easy it is to give in to its obvious appeal… until one day the desire and the ability to think for oneself has diminished… and where is the point of no return? As we say here in Texas, I guess we’re fixin’ to find out.
Beneath Blabberbot’s hilarity is indeed the sad dilemma of our age – the loneliness of no human contact because it’s been replaced by its silicon substitute, and we are now seeing the heartbreaking effects of this. You have picked up on the message I was going for in both of these poems, Michael. Thank you! I’ve just kicked my Muse out of bed. More poetry is on its way!!
I’ve been meaning to say this since the poem was first published – Evan, THANK YOU very much indeed for the accompanying image. I love the pairing!
Absolutely amazing poetry Susan. I loved them both. I am horrified by how quickly things are moving towards…. what?? Can anyone make any kind of predictions when things are moving so fast. Thank you for making light of the darkness with your incredible vocabulary.
Dear Norma, Susan and all,
I think most of us are noticing the speed and asking the question “towards what?” .
Firstly, its not inevitable.. but the unscrupulous people who have seized the extraordinary power which technology gives want us to think so.
I am reminded of “The Wizard of Oz”.. the “wizard” was a small, frightened man with a megaphone, hiding behind a screen. Our contemporary “wizards” are just as manipulative but not frightened.
They are complacent.
They think that total control is within their grasp.
They are wrong.
Firstly we do have a choice.
I can highly recommend;
“Tyranny” by historian Timothy Snyder..
Highly practical, concise,
compelling, very readable
easily in a couple of hours ..
with lots of practical suggestions .
The key danger for any resistance is hopelessness..
We do not need to be hopeless. Look at poet
and dramatist Karol Józef Wojtyła in Poland when the Nazis took over.
The young student Karol’s expression of resistance to the oppressors which was the Rhapsodic Theatre,
was so beautifully depicted in the film “Karol”;
(Wonderful film ” Karol” BTW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4bWX9zaFBI&t=316s
His resistance was literary and highly effective.
And in the end, these modern day wizards are just like the wizard’s apprentice;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-W8vUXRfxU
playing around with things they do not understand and which they cannot ultimately control. .
They think they are powerful but will not be allowed to play around for much longer;
https://www.queenofpeacemedia.com/
Thanks to all on here who refuse accept the nonsense which is happening now as inevitable
and who realise that hope, solidarity and joy are the resistance.
warmest regards,
Karen
****************
Thank you very much Karen. I will check out your suggestions.
Yes Karen, thank you very much for these. I will be checking them out too!
Norma, you make an excellent point – towards what, indeed! I have a feeling we are soon to find out and it isn’t going to be pretty. Thank you for your kind words of appreciation and support. They mean a lot!
Susan, thanks for these disturbing but witty (especially the second) poems. My view of technology has till now been that the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. AI, though, is a whole new ball game! Have we finally created Frankenstein’s monster?
Well anyway, as one Brit to another, at least if the robots took over the UK, they couldn’t wreck the country any more than our “human” rulers are doing!
David, thank you so much for reading my poems and for your thoughtful observations. I like your Frankenstein’s monster point. I believe AI is only as good as the info available to it. With history being skewed and erased, with art being redefined, with maths being labeled “racist”, and with the internet being sanitized to provide only the “fact”-checked viewpoint, it’s only a matter of time before this potentially excellent asset to society is ruined with the same poison pumped into hearts and minds every day by those who think they know it all.
I fear you’re right. Nearly 100 years ago, Orwell described a society where objective truth was fading from the world. I guess we can only fight against it with our actions and our work. But there’s a silver lining: the proliferation of media means that some sources won’t spout the government/woke narrative.
David, I’m heartened by that silver lining. Thank you for your wise words.