| dc.description.abstract | Matter, Time, and Sp— is a long poem that uses the metaphysical conceit to consider the ways “the immortal soul” relates to the question of consciousness and more broadly the possibilities of consciousness in artificial intelligence. “In the beginning” are the first three words in the long poem and if read aloud, “God” is the final utterance. Inspired by Abrahamic tradition, the introduction follows two figures from another generation of mankind. They are early iterations, first drafts, or prototypes of Adam and Eve that emerged out of clay by an invisible hand. Later, Axl and Eden, another iteration of Adam and Eve, escape an AI powered embryology lab, but struggle to make their relationship work in a world they cannot understand. Between the opening and closing sections, each poem represents separate snatches of dystopian life—a girl frustrated with the digital landscape of dating apps has a conversation with a talking billboard, a high rise cleaner worries she will be unable to conceive after a spinal injury, a human’s consciousness is uploaded into a humanoid robot, a woman reels from botched augmentation, and a young woman falls in love with a humanoid robot. The speaker of the poem dissects the human body on the page to explore a preoccupation with the evolution of the body: what the body was before, what the body is now, and what the body will soon become. Influenced by John Donne and the other Metaphysical poets, often yoking several images at once, these poems begin with the concept of creationism, then move swiftly toward forms of augmentation, and land on the future of fertility. Ultimately, underneath the skin of MTS are poems that question what it means to be human. | |
