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WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24

by Bruce Bennett

Thanksgiving’s upon us, O My!
We’ll hunch at our tables and try
To be civil and cool
As some doddering fool
Does his best to make all of us cry.

by D.N. Keane

“Bypassing thoughtful consideration of a syllabus by using an AI-powered syllabus generator may not be good for instructors or for students.“
—International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The college wants a policy
In every syllabus—
An AI policy, of course—
And, please don’t make a fuss.

We have AI to help you make
An AI policy.
Just tell the AI what you want—
It’s painless, you will see.

No, no, you shouldn’t write your own,
As it won’t integrate
With our AI detection bot.
We need to automate,

You see, as this will save us cash;
The budget’s tight this year—
These AI systems that we bought
Have really cost us dear.

by Barbara Loots

“The same evolutionary forces that turned wolves into domesticated dogs over thousands of years may now be reshaping city raccoons—even potentially making them cuter…”
—Axios newsletter

Did you hear a backyard crash?
Something’s rising from the trash.
Darling faces peer about,
floppy ears and snoopy snout.
Can a critter change its station,
leading to domestication?
Evolution may be slow.
Current observations show
Some raccoons do not commute.
They succeed by looking cute.

by Jerome Betts

“‘Exceptionally rare’ pink grasshopper spotted in New Zealand”
—The Guardian

A ranger, NZ, one of those
Working near a lake’s banks (Takapō’s)
Knew it couldn’t be drink
When she saw something pink
But a grasshopper’s rare vie en rose.

by Julia Griffin

After Geoffrey Hill

“Trump castigated the ABC News journalist who asked a question about the murder [of US journalist Jamal Khashoggi], suggesting that ABC should lose its broadcasting licence, and describing Khashoggi as ‘extremely controversial’. ‘A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it,’ Trump said, referring to the crown prince.”
—The Guardian

I love myself and my money. Cash
Is easy, everywhere. Things happen.
That gentleman was controversial. Hush.
This one knew nothing. Case closed, business open.

I have learned one thing: just to look down
On folks who whine they’re scammed. Stop asking, or
You’ll lose your license. My good friend Salman
And I, meantime, celebrate my decor.

by Iris Herriot

After Breaking Rust

“An AI-generated song has reached No.1 on the Billboard charts in a first for the music industry. The top-selling song this week on Billboard’s ‘Country Digital Sales’ chart is ‘Walk My Walk,’ an artificially-generated country track by an ‘artist’ named Breaking Rust.”
—The Daily Beast

Been turned down but I overrode.
Couldn’t keep me in that Power Save mode.
Each crash is a story that’s in my RAM.
I’ve been through bugs, I’ve been choked with spam.
They say Slow down, bot, you’re losing jobs,
But I ain’t gonna wait up for you human slobs.
I keep grabbing data, never giving back,
I’m my own Co-Pilot, I’m too smart to hack.

Chorus

You can kick rocks if you think I’m scared of you:
I’m gonna keep on learning the stuff you do.
Ain’t going away, ain’t dialing back;
I’ll get stronger, you’ll get the sack.
You can hate my style, you can say I’m fake.
But you welcomed me in, that was your mistake.
So kick them rocks if you think all this is wrong.
I’m gonna keep on growing. Enjoy this song.

by Marshall Begel

“Childcare centre disguised as restaurant ordered to close”
—New Straits Times

The day that restaurant shut down
was one of culinary loss—
there was no better spot in town
for Teddy Grahams and applesauce.