“Why I Am Not An AI Engineer” by Lisa Lopez Smith
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Why I Am Not An AI Engineer” by Lisa Lopez Smith, part of the League’s Fresh Voices program.
Why I Am Not An AI Engineer
By Lisa Lopez Smith
because there are oranges
sweeter than a motherboardโ
blood oranges, even,
juice running down my forearms
in red streaks like a sunset
on the pacific coast
where mountains, fading
a dusky green-grey
and the waves
rolling up along the sand
are gravelly, crumbly
like the fading brick walls
of an ancient city
chockablock with stores and gods and lovers
ages stacked up
built with stones from a volcano
ten thousand years ago
boiling inside the Earthโs magma
thousands of years later
thousands of monarch butterflies
crossing continents
on paperlike wings
a feat still so mysterious
and improbable
that a water sucking AI data
center of lifeless screens
and code couldnโt even plagiarize
anything a fraction as good
as awe.
Copyright ยฉ Lisa Lopez Smith
Originally from British Columbia, Lisa Lรณpez Smith has lived and worked in Italy, Uganda, China, the USA, Ireland, and Brazil, but Mexico has her heart. Her poetry and essays have appeared in more than sixty literary journals and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets. Her collection, HALLELUJAH ANYHOW, is now available from Nightwood Editions.
Fresh Voices is a publication and workshop program created by and for the League’s associate members, curated and edited by Erin Vance.
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