Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Writing In My Sleep

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Today was such a perfect day that I did no useful work at all.  Mostly I wandered about outside, enjoying the spring weather.  But I also took in John Carter, the movie that Disney in its wisdom decided shouldn't have the words of Mars appended to its title.  Synoptic review:  If you  liked the books when you were young, you'll enjoy it greatly.  But if this isn't your sort of thing, then I don't expect you'll give it a try.


And I was writing in my sleep again . . .

I've written in my sleep before, but this time was different.  This time, and for the first time ever, I wrote poetry.  Well, doggerel.  I make no claim as to its merit, other than the inherent interest of a piece written without the intervention of consciousness.  The title, however, is a retrofit because my sleeping self did not bother to provide one.


Joyce Kilmer Updated
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet-flowing breasts
With limbs lopped off by power lines
And stapled posters threatening fines
For wanderers who trespass here
And at its feet crushed cans of beer
Poems are made by fools like me
But modern life defiles a tree

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5 comments:

skyknyt said...

My apologies, I've gone through several of your collections looking for it and now I suspect I'm hallucinating: but did you write a story about a fellow whose computer was broken into by hackers and had an AI program installed on it?

A friend of mine showed me this: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/03/kara-quantic-dream/
And it reminded me of that story - which I would swear you wrote.

David Stone said...

Speaking of films, as someone who is writing a book about con-men traveling in China, you might want to catch "Let the Bullets Fly", a film about... con-men in early 20th century China. It's an entertaining film by a great director (who also stars in the film).

Not sure if it will to theaters where you live, but I'm sure you'll be able to get a NA region DVD of it soon, or probably find it online via a legitimate on-demand service soon if not right now.

Michael Swanwick said...

Skyknyt, I don't recall that story -- it was probably written by somebody else.

I looked at the clip, though, and it reminded me of the time in the late 1970s when a friend and I tried to write an ELISA-type program which, if you managed to prove it wsan't sentient, would break down in tears and despair. Probably all to the best that we got nowhere with it.

Michael Swanwick said...

I just looked at the clip for "Let the Bullets Fly" and that does look good. It also looks like I'll have to make a special effort to see it. Thanks, David.

skyknyt said...

I realize that perhaps I'm the only one who cares, but I discovered the story again. ;)

http://www.michaelswanwick.com/fiction/nissassa.html