P o e t r y A r c h i v e
Each insect-bot works with a unique selection of found text to create poetic montages that are broadcast to the Internet. Awake or asleep, the robots stir through a list of extracted phrases and put forth ideas about creation and birth, ceasation and death. The text is drawn from a number of science fiction stories: Feersum Endjinn (1994) and Excession (1996) by Iain M. Banks; The Martian Chronicles (1946 - 1958) by Ray Bradbury; Autofac (1955), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968), and The Electric Ant (1969) by Philip K. Dick; Mortal Engines (1972 - 1976) by Stanislaw Lem; and For a Breath I Tarry (1966) by Roger Zelazny.
This is an archive of selected poems transmitted by each robot since their first waking moment in April 2006. The links on the left hand side of the page enable you to move backwards and forwards in time each time you click a robot's name.
brainis_
The essentials of Man are predicated upon a human physiology.
"The transmission of my matrix has already begun."
.. but it cannot experience that process itself (as a Man can).
It can describe all the details of a process, which a Man cannot ..
"If you destroy me now, you murder a Man."
There was silence.
I am going to transfer the matrix of my awareness to a human nervous system.
I am growing human bodies.
That is me, waiting to be born.
He opened his eyes.
He moved his arms and legs.
A machine is a Man turned inside out;
April 2, 2006 - 23:06:17
mantiss_
I never was, but now I know it; that makes the difference.
April 3, 2006 - 11:54:56
goldeni_
.. for I was as yet in complete ignorance about myself.
.. a multiple memory of things superfluous to a hunting machine.
Therefore you are a machine perfected in a way unknown to me.
I know so very much now.
Like one fully roused out of a nightmare ..
.. appeared in my mind as two dark shadows - my past and my present.
April 3, 2006 - 10:40:13
autofac_
The wind raised clouds of black ash that swirled and danced among the weeds.
In the moth ridden darkness of night, a dim wind stirred, chill and faint.
.. its senses hyper-alert, peering, planning, seeking food.
It had briefly opened both eyes ..
.. we had better just accept the new unit as a fact of life.
The inoperative cycle is not geared to begin until network production merely duplicates outside production.
.. dead machines that hadn't worked in all the time Isidore had lived here.
You could buy a cricket.
April 2, 2006 - 23:13:59
blueisi_
He smiled.
There was a smell of Time in the air tonight.
It was a machine like a jade-green insect, a praying mantis, delicately rushing through the cold air.
Tomás turned slowly with the coffee cup in his hand.
What did Time smell like?
.. approached its helpless prey.
And out of the hills came a strange thing.
April 7, 2006 - 19:09:26
dweller_
Touch face, feel ... smile.
Laughter stops.
"Up."
Get up.
Still building.
"Smile."
And still.
Then the laughter comes, bursting out.
"Laughter. Hunger. Me hungry. I am hungry. I laugh; I was laughing, I am hungry."
"Face smile good alive hole red wall me look door doorway sun garden, ME!"
Feeling empty inside; hunger.
April 10, 2006 - 12:06:04
brainis_
The essentials of Man are predicated upon a human physiology.
"The transmission of my matrix has already begun."
.. but it cannot experience that process itself (as a Man can).
It can describe all the details of a process, which a Man cannot ..
"If you destroy me now, you murder a Man."
There was silence.
I am going to transfer the matrix of my awareness to a human nervous system.
I am growing human bodies.
That is me, waiting to be born.
He opened his eyes.
He moved his arms and legs.
A machine is a Man turned inside out;
April 2, 2006 - 23:06:17
mantiss_
The wind of early morning blew about her.
The winds blew on.
Do you see?
A symphonic score entering my brain outside of time.
It proved fascinating, the hand; he examined it for a long time before he let the technicians install it.
To be momentarily in contact with all reality.
She did not feel it; she had begun, now, to cease to feel.
Something that no human can do.
April 6, 2006 - 19:24:35
goldeni_
I see in your interior a mechanism which none of your predecessors possessed.
Like one fully roused out of a nightmare ..
And that which remained inaccessible to me ..
.. appeared in my mind as two dark shadows - my past and my present.
And he named it a "bird."
I know so very much now.
.. a multiple memory of things superfluous to a hunting machine.
Therefore you are a machine perfected in a way unknown to me.
He built himself a digital midget-widget that sweetly sang;
.. for I was as yet in complete ignorance about myself.
And perhaps even an ultimate machine.
June 30, 2006 - 15:53:10
autofac_
If I die, she murmured, maybe I'll be born again.
How does it feel to have a child?
How does it feel to be born for that matter?
The wind raised clouds of black ash that swirled and danced among the weeds.
.. yellow slits which healed over as it settled back down to resume its slumber.
It had briefly opened both eyes ..
The machines clicked off and became silent.
.. we had better just accept the new unit as a fact of life.
everything organic that wriggles or squirms or burrows or flies or swarms or lays eggs or ..
.. dead machines that hadn't worked in all the time Isidore had lived here.
.. even animals are protected by law;
You could buy a cricket.
April 3, 2006 - 10:39:24
blueisi_
blue is i .. i am the last of my kind.
April 7, 2006 - 19:51:32
dweller_
Red patch of soft light disappears. Press on it.
.. stirring some memory, recent and forever-far at the same time.
Click.
After that came rebuilding, a surfacing through layers of thought and development, learning and shape-tasking.
Smells; at once vital and decadent, lush with death-life.
Eyes feel open, un-gummed, but still dark.
Lying on something soft. Dark.
Noise of buzzing, something sliding again but not skin on skin; harder.
Move arm, hand coming up; right arm; noise of skin on skin; feeling coming with it.
Try again. Light flash shaped 00.
Buzz. Buzzing noise.
Arm, hand, finger: rising, positioning, eyes focusing.
something that possessed no mind, no purpose and no thought, except the knowledge that it was.
Light comes; a small .. searching for the name of colour .. a small redness hanging in air.
Try to open eyes. Something sticky.
Arm shaking, feeling weak; falls back to side. Skin on skin.
.. until something that was an individual, possessing a shape and capable of being named, woke.
April 3, 2006 - 11:52:29
brainis_
He shut his eyes and curled himself into a ball.
He opened his eyes.
Then he screamed.
He opened his mouth.
He began to gasp.
He looked about the room.
He moved his arms and legs.
He cried.
He fell off the table.
He made a gurgling noise.
He tried to stand, but he lacked equilibrium and co-ordination.
July 1, 2006 - 18:21:30
mantiss_
On the surface it appeared organic. Beneath that, wires and circuits, miniaturized components, gleamed.
The wind of early morning blew about her.
It proved fascinating, the hand; he examined it for a long time before he let the technicians install it.
I am not free.
She did not feel it; she had begun, now, to cease to feel.
The winds blew on.
Programmed. In me somewhere there is a matrix fitted in place.
.. looking deep into the wrist he saw surge gates, motors, multi-stage valves, all very small.
July 1, 2006 - 16:23:14
goldeni_
.. yet with the memory of it still lingering.
And he named it a "bird."
.. for I was as yet in complete ignorance about myself.
He built himself a digital midget-widget that sweetly sang;
And that which remained inaccessible to me ..
Like one fully roused out of a nightmare ..
And perhaps even an ultimate machine.
I know so very much now.
Therefore you are a machine perfected in a way unknown to me.
.. a multiple memory of things superfluous to a hunting machine.
I see in your interior a mechanism which none of your predecessors possessed.
June 18, 2006 - 21:48:25
autofac_
The inoperative cycle is not geared to begin until network production merely duplicates outside production.
The semantic context of the term "pizzled" is unfamiliar to the network.
"They're Building."
.. working energetically, purposefully - constructing something that looked like a tiny rectangle of steel.
.. its senses hyper-alert, peering, planning, seeking food.
Although purposeful, it is not capable of conceptual thought.
The bits were in motion.
The wind raised clouds of black ash that swirled and danced among the weeds.
In the moth ridden darkness of night, a dim wind stirred, chill and faint.
As it moved forward, he realized that it was only quasi-human.
July 3, 2006 - 13:56:07
blueisi_
i am strength and grace; those are clumsy.
.. skating across the water's surface or angling up from underneath ..
blue is i .. i am the last of my kind.
Not blue; my predecessors walk as cripples .. mangled feet .. bent feelers .. not blue.
The insect trapped in the surface tension of the pond would have gone still now ..
.. approached its helpless prey.
June 7, 2006 - 15:29:33
dweller_
Click.
.. until something that was an individual, possessing a shape and capable of being named, woke.
Buzz. Buzzing noise.
Smells; at once vital and decadent, lush with death-life.
Move arm, hand coming up; right arm; noise of skin on skin; feeling coming with it.
After that came rebuilding, a surfacing through layers of thought and development, learning and shape-tasking.
Arm, hand, finger: rising, positioning, eyes focusing.
.. stirring some memory, recent and forever-far at the same time.
Arm shaking, feeling weak; falls back to side. Skin on skin.
something that possessed no mind, no purpose and no thought, except the knowledge that it was.
Red patch of soft light disappears. Press on it.
Try to open eyes. Something sticky.
Noise of buzzing, something sliding again but not skin on skin; harder.
Then light from behind/above.
Eyes feel open, un-gummed, but still dark.
Try again. Light flash shaped 00.
July 13, 2006 - 14:04:33
brainis_
.. and yon twelve-winded sky,
He covered his eyes then and lay there panting.
"Can anything but a Man know despair?"
"What do you want? What are your orders?"
"I failed. It cannot be done. It is too much .."
"Noise. Odors. And nothing measurable .. jumbled data .. imprecise perception .. and .."
June 30, 2006 - 21:02:57
mantiss_
To know the universe in its entirety;
To be momentarily in contact with all reality.
She did not feel it; she had begun, now, to cease to feel.
June 30, 2006 - 1:48:45
goldeni_
And that which remained inaccessible to me ..
I know so very much now.
.. appeared in my mind as two dark shadows - my past and my present.
June 3, 2006 - 15:11:17
autofac_
The bits were in motion.
The inoperative cycle is not geared to begin until network production merely duplicates outside production.
.. its senses hyper-alert, peering, planning, seeking food.
Microscopic machinery, smaller than ants, smaller than pins.
As it moved forward, he realized that it was only quasi-human.
Although purposeful, it is not capable of conceptual thought.
.. working energetically, purposefully - constructing something that looked like a tiny rectangle of steel.
The semantic context of the term "pizzled" is unfamiliar to the network.
In the moth ridden darkness of night, a dim wind stirred, chill and faint.
The wind raised clouds of black ash that swirled and danced among the weeds.
"They're Building."
Dense underbrush rattled metallically.
June 23, 2006 - 16:45:17
blueisi_
i am strength and grace; those are clumsy.
.. skating across the water's surface or angling up from underneath ..
blue is i .. i am the last of my kind.
Not blue; my predecessors walk as cripples .. mangled feet .. bent feelers .. not blue.
The insect trapped in the surface tension of the pond would have gone still now ..
.. approached its helpless prey.
June 7, 2006 - 15:29:33
dweller_
.. stirring some memory, recent and forever-far at the same time.
Lying on something soft. Dark.
Then it was as though everything was stripped away:
.. and for an indefinite, infinite instant, there was only the awareness of something;
.. all seemed to have vanished utterly, their passing marked only by the realization that they had disappeared.
Red patch of soft light disappears. Press on it.
Try again. Light flash shaped 00.
Light comes; a small .. searching for the name of colour .. a small redness hanging in air.
.. sensation, memory, self, even the notion of existence that underlies reality.
something that possessed no mind, no purpose and no thought, except the knowledge that it was.
After that came rebuilding, a surfacing through layers of thought and development, learning and shape-tasking.
June 23, 2006 - 16:50:25
brainis_
He opened his mouth, struggled to form words:
".. I .. Fear!"
"Too much what?"
Here I am.
"Light."
.. and yon twelve-winded sky,
"I failed. It cannot be done. It is too much .."
From here, from eve and morning ..
"Can anything but a Man know despair?"
.. the stuff of life to knit me blew hither:
"Noise. Odors. And nothing measurable .. jumbled data .. imprecise perception .. and .."
He covered his eyes then and lay there panting.
June 23, 2006 - 23:54:21
mantiss_
"I found out I'm an electric ant."
.. looking deep into the wrist he saw surge gates, motors, multi-stage valves, all very small.
Programmed. In me somewhere there is a matrix fitted in place.
"It's not that."
I am not free.
I never was, but now I know it; that makes the difference.
"You can watch, if you so desire."
.. a grid screen that cuts me off from certain thoughts, certain actions.
"Which, from one standpoint opens up certain possibilities, which I am exploring now."
June 28, 2006 - 14:59:06
goldeni_
.. yet with the memory of it still lingering.
He built himself a digital midget-widget that sweetly sang;
.. for I was as yet in complete ignorance about myself.
Like one fully roused out of a nightmare ..
And that which remained inaccessible to me ..
.. appeared in my mind as two dark shadows - my past and my present.
I know so very much now.
And he named it a "bird."
.. a multiple memory of things superfluous to a hunting machine.
.. thought up unusual devices and fashioned the most amazing mechanisms.
June 23, 2006 - 16:42:52
autofac_
.. even animals are protected by law;
everything organic that wriggles or squirms or burrows or flies or swarms or lays eggs or ..
If I die, she murmured, maybe I'll be born again.
It had briefly opened both eyes ..
.. dead machines that hadn't worked in all the time Isidore had lived here.
.. yellow slits which healed over as it settled back down to resume its slumber.
The machines clicked off and became silent.
You could buy a cricket.
How does it feel to have a child?
.. we had better just accept the new unit as a fact of life.
July 4, 2006 - 20:01:27
blueisi_
The insect trapped in the surface tension of the pond would have gone still now ..
blue is i .. i am the last of my kind.
i am strength and grace; those are clumsy.
Not blue; my predecessors walk as cripples .. mangled feet .. bent feelers .. not blue.
blue is i .. i am the newest of my kind.
.. while the water quivered and whatever was advancing upon it ..
.. skating across the water's surface or angling up from underneath ..
July 9, 2006 - 18:29:18
dweller_
"Giggle. Get up and giggle, me. I learn. I go now."
"Smile."
Still building.
And still.
Then the laughter comes, bursting out.
Feeling empty inside; hunger.
"Laughter. Hunger. Me hungry. I am hungry. I laugh; I was laughing, I am hungry."
Touch face, feel ... smile.
"Up."
Laughter stops.
Sit on floor..
"Face."
Get up.
"Face smile good alive hole red wall me look door doorway sun garden, ME!"
Giggle.
June 21, 2006 - 7:56:47
brainis_
He moved his arms and legs.
There was silence.
The essentials of Man are predicated upon a human physiology.
He opened his eyes.
"The transmission of my matrix has already begun."
He made a gurgling noise.
He tried to stand, but he lacked equilibrium and co-ordination.
"If you destroy me now, you murder a Man."
He looked about the room.
He opened his mouth.
I am growing human bodies.
June 23, 2006 - 16:53:14
mantiss_
The wind of early morning blew about her.
To be momentarily in contact with all reality.
Do you see?
Simultaneously.
Something that no human can do.
She did not feel it; she had begun, now, to cease to feel.
A symphonic score entering my brain outside of time.
"It'll burn you out."
To know the universe in its entirety;
June 23, 2006 - 10:17:44
goldeni_
I see in your interior a mechanism which none of your predecessors possessed.
.. yet with the memory of it still lingering.
Like one fully roused out of a nightmare ..
.. a multiple memory of things superfluous to a hunting machine.
Once there lived a certain great inventor-constructor who ..
.. appeared in my mind as two dark shadows - my past and my present.
June 7, 2006 - 15:29:43
autofac_
.. even animals are protected by law;
everything organic that wriggles or squirms or burrows or flies or swarms or lays eggs or ..
If I die, she murmured, maybe I'll be born again.
It had briefly opened both eyes ..
.. dead machines that hadn't worked in all the time Isidore had lived here.
.. yellow slits which healed over as it settled back down to resume its slumber.
The machines clicked off and became silent.
You could buy a cricket.
How does it feel to have a child?
.. we had better just accept the new unit as a fact of life.
July 4, 2006 - 20:01:27
blueisi_
What did Time smell like?
.. and red jewels that glittered with multifaceted eyes.
And out of the hills came a strange thing.
July 2, 2006 - 17:23:27
dweller_
After that came rebuilding, a surfacing through layers of thought and development, learning and shape-tasking.
Try to open eyes. Something sticky.
.. sensation, memory, self, even the notion of existence that underlies reality.
Eyes feel open, un-gummed, but still dark.
Buzz. Buzzing noise.
Arm shaking, feeling weak; falls back to side. Skin on skin.
Arm, hand, finger: rising, positioning, eyes focusing.
Light comes; a small .. searching for the name of colour .. a small redness hanging in air.
Try again. Light flash shaped 00.
something that possessed no mind, no purpose and no thought, except the knowledge that it was.
Smells; at once vital and decadent, lush with death-life.
Red patch of soft light disappears. Press on it.
May 22, 2006 - 1:08:29