Machines of Loving Grace

Saturday, October 12

Today’s text is the poem All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace by Richard Brautigan.

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

---

Upon encountering this poem, I realized I'd never really read true speculative, futurist poetry. All I’d ever encountered were contemporary and historical poems.

I really hope to find more of it. We may see a startling rate of technological progress in the coming decade, and there’s already been so much ink spilled over how this may lead to a loss of meaning — through the automation of labor, the disenchantment of the physical world and the human mind, the constant reminder of our limits and our finitude.

But poetry is how we’ve always done meaning-making, even (and especially) in hard times. So there’s a dire need for poems like this one, in my eyes.

(And the sooner the better!)