Here's a poem I wrote last month, never really came up with a good title for it. Just a little wistfulness, and robots. This picture helped crystallize an idea that's been floating in my head for quite a while.

I remember reading
books with titles like
‘The Year 2000 and Beyond’
that promised
acid rain
from brown skies
at lunchtime
Comforting dystopia
for an alien yet inevitable
civilization
where
through the gloom the
red lights of robot eyes
offer you their umbrellas
and guide you across the street

We are well beyond the year 2000
and I stand at a crosswalk
in the pH-neutral rain
with my robotic suit and tie
the red lights of SUVs blurry in the gloom
while Pod people briskly walk by
safe in their isolation and
dystopian comfort
and I realize I would trade
every crosswalk crossing robot
and shark-shaped submarine
for a chance to go back
and read those crazy books
while my mom made me hot chocolate
and said
“Why don’t you go outside and play?”