Pause For Poetry:
Michael Hawkes /29

Alexa Googles the Answering Machine

A poem by Michael Hawkes

If there is something you really should know,
ask the Answering Machine.
When awoken, turned on and rearing to go,
there’s no mistake it can’t redeem,
no honest truth it won’t bestow.
You’ll be wiser than you’ve ever been,
at least until the fuses blow.

I should add, from what I’ve seen,
you’re fore-warned by an eerie glow,
alarmingly red or a bilious green,
that tells one to screen the need to know.

Because what could I say if you said you had seen
Alexa, the big-headed quiz master queen,
Googling’n dialling a ‘knowing’ machine,
on top of a tired “I told you so”??

07/06/21 –  Hawkes

Feature image: Jessica Lewis from Pexels

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