Has more hair, less cellulite,
believes—surprisingly— in God,
Old Testament Jehovah, human sacrifices,
yet still intones LGBTQ+.
AI Me, 20 years hence looks like Keith
Richards, plays seven instruments half-
stoned, songs in half-steps, even E sharp.
AI Me has like five best friends and an AI
family that got cut
from the Barbie movie.
A-sexual AI Me can invert sentences, talk Yoda,
believe, he doesn’t, we really landed on the moon.
AI Me doesn’t trust mirrors, doesn’t invite
vampire, doesn’t make the bed, won’t promise
to meditate or improve his innermost non-self.
AI Me sold all his bitcoin, collects
wheat-back pennies, has a HAL 9000
poster taped above his bed, sneers at Asimov.
And sometimes AI Me clutches his wooden
rosary and prays to the photogenic, debunked
white Jesus, crosses himself with his
flip-phone, fires up another doomed search
on his Commodore computer.
Ed McManis is a writer, editor, & erstwhile Head of School. His work has appeared in more than 60 publications, including The Blue Road Reader, California Quarterly, Nimrod, Narrative, Lascaux Review, etc. He and his wife, Linda, have published esteemed author Joanne Greenberg’s novel (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden).
