Best Computer Age Poems
B.C. has been the acronym applied
for all events before out dear Lord’s birth.
Who knew another god would change the tide
and wield a power of great global worth?
To what do I refer? Or have you guessed
the god to which we each now bow our head?
No matter our religion, all are blessed
with this thing vital as our daily bread.
It took away the jobs of common men
and gave new jobs to geeks. You now must know
this god of our new world, who loves all sin
as well as good, has nothing it won’t show!
I think “Before Computers” seems a way
to say A.D. became a new B.C.
Now things have changed so much that I would say
that my own past is ancient history!
Before Computers, life was not so fast,
and even in the 90’s I could keep
abreast of news and make my free time last.
High-tech today both makes me thrill and weep!
More time for family, a slowed down pace,
more time for God; I weep for things we’ve lost.
yet thrilled am I to see the human race
now bonding. But we do it at what cost?
Our children growing lazy, rude, and fat
and less connected, addicts to a phone!
To play outside. . . . Do you remember that?
B.C. meant doing more things on your own.
With jobs, our kids and all our lives at stake,
we now embrace our new computer age,.
Omitting our true God is the mistake
that might well do us in; we must be sage!
Recall the values getting left behind
as into this computer age we cruise.
Look back to decades past and you will find
B.C. had greatness that we must not lose.
For Deb's Contest (B.C. = Before Computers)
The Power of One
Computer age impasse...the strength of one;
the fear of stroke of midnight had begun.
One second only, how our lives would change;
our current ways we'd have to rearrange.
The strength of one...one second soon could cause
such catastrophic world events because
computer programs would defy planned charts;
schedules for flights and trains would fall apart.
Communication, electronic needs
would not perform with wrong computer feeds.
All bank accounts would never be accessed
until we could recover from the mess.
One second only from disaster time
when year two-thousand flipped from 'ninety-nine!
Came stroke of midnight...the power of one...
that one feared second...was dissolved and done.
A year-long worry came and went away;
we all recall the fear of Y-2K.
The force of one held humans hostage to
a tragedy that never did come true.
Sandra M. Haight
~6th Place~
Premiere Contest: A Programming Contest - all 'dim ones and zeros
Sponsor: Brahn Bailey
Judged: 11/05/2018
~4th Place~
Contest: One
Sponsor: Rob Carmack
Judged: 09/12/2015
We humans are the gods of the computer age. We have mastered the use of ones and zeros. Some argue we have created artificial intelligence. But is it possible that ones and zeros have replaced our intelligence with servitude?
I see
Faces glued to a screen
Trying to decipher all the data seen
People no longer talk
People no longer walk
I don't know when this got its start
Cell phones are now a new body part
I see
Lights flashing
Buzzers dashing
Images blazing
Eyes glazing
Our cars tell us where to drive
And when we will arrive
It is a mystery to me
How an app is all people want to see
We are slowly dissolving into cyber space
Rarely looking up to see a human face
Free thinking is dying
Muscles are atrophying
I think I have found
People are not smarter, but dumbing down
Keyboard courage, slinging hate from afar
Hiding behind an avatar
We suffer from a terrible affliction
It's called binary addiction
So I see on many a blank face
The fate of the human race
Cyber world: one
Humans: zero
All 'dim ones and zeros programming contest poetry contest
Sponsored by: Brahm Baily
10/3/18
propaganda wins
when the symbolics are yours
so best be careful
old philosophies
will contain a new meaning
your mental time sold
one is paid to wait
on a clock or on others
grace and forgiveness
or money per hour
then earned are for your free will
this computer age
cannot be wasted
old job creativities
always disappear
so create something
don't let the artist fall dead
sculpt script paint or think
stan sand
“Made you look you dirty crook!”
And all those colourful phrases
Have vanished from our lexicon
They now belong to the ages!
“Keep your nose to the grindstone!”
Is another from way back when
So sad they've all but disappeared
Wish they could go back again!
Since the dawn of the computer age
We speak in a different fashion
Conversing in very short sentences
Using acronyms without much passion!
We now seem to have lost the ability
To have an intelligent conversation
Emailing, texting, or some such device
Or some other glitzy presentation!
I really long for those simpler days
When people took time to listen
And all the world seemed friendlier
Now feels like something's missing!
Made quite an impression, it seems
On the chair I've been glued to so long
The indentation is an exact replica
Of my rear, hmmm, sounds like a song
Me bum and me chair are going steady
Have been since joining P-Soup
Methinks maybe atrophy is setting in
So I think I'll shoot some hoops
It's surely a result of this computer age
Our bodies will soon have no use
Our heads will be the size of basketballs
But our bodies will be an excuse
Excuse to hold up our 100 pound heads
With it's 250 gigabyte storage space
We'll actually need some kind of device
Or we'll continue to fall on our face
Made quite an impression, it surely seems
On the chair I've been glued to so long
Thinks I'll go for a ride in my old jalopy
An old Dodge I bought for a song
© Jack Ellison 2013
Highlight what you wish to copy, then give it a right click.
Look for the "copy" option, then simply click on it.
Right click where you want what you've copied to eventually be displayed,
then all that is left for you to do is click on the option "paste."
If you don't know how to highlight, this is all you have to do.
Click and hold while moving your curser, highlighting as much as you want to.
Once you have highlighted all that you wish
release the hold and give the highlight a right click.
*
Where I cannot post a link, I post a web address in haste,
but I forget that not everyone knows how to copy and paste.
I hope the above helps others to learn how to Copy & Paste.
I know very well that it can be hell staying on top of the computer age.
“Made you look you dirty crook!”
And all those colourful phrases
Have vanished from our lexicon
They now belong to the ages!
“Keep your nose to the grindstone!”
Is another from way back when
So sad they've all but disappeared
Wish they'd come back again!
Since the dawn of the computer age
We speak in a different fashion
Conversing in very short sentences
Use acronyms without any passion!
We seem to have totally lost the ability
To have an intelligent conversation
Emailing, texting, talking on Facebook
A computer age generation!
I really long for those simpler days
When people took time to listen
All the world seemed friendlier then
Now feels like something's missing!
© Jack Ellison 2012
Ever stop, look and listen? Or do you go about life’s daily chores in a high speed walk.
Everything in this world nowadays is fast, even message machines, hurry and talk.
Slowing down is not in our human DNA, never do we walk anymore.
It’s a bicycle, surf board, bus, train or car, mechanization, even, mailman knocking at your door.
We baby boomers have watched technology burst on the scene.
Now over 65 years or so, we know what the human brain is capable of, toxicity is really mean.
There are over 6 billion people on our planet; we have burdened it to the max.
Our nation is about commerce, freedom, and we are the most taxed.
The politicians are in the fast lane too.
They bark false promises, get elected, and then take advantage of you!
All this computer age, is mind boggling, if you think about the advances.
Visionary humans made this country great; now we’ve evolved by taking chances.
Speed, more speed, cars, phones, satellites, internet, going as fast as we can possibly go.
Yet, Christians, who know of the “The Word”, can slowly watch as the events that are to happen, really go slow.
Jesus two thousand years ago spoke on the Mount.
What He said is all that counts.
The Day of the Lord, mentioned over 14 times in God’s inspired book.
It’s all there in Matthew’s, the Sermon on the Mount, slow down now and take a look.
Holy Bible says “Prove all things!” like Solomon, have faith, search for wisdom.
It’s all there; Jesus is there my brethrens, stop, look, and listen!
Wasn't that the name of a rock band?
Or perhaps something from Star Trek?
The world was not created in 7 days
However, after Adam and Eve ate the deadly
apple the world changed
The metaphor is excellent - The Bible is a poetry book
The light from the past still has relevance
Even if we are now in the computer age
The old verities still have power
The world exists
So do we
You can scoff at existence
Find it a kind of cosmic joke
But it has been said before
Readers - This is not our fate
Dear Computer, have I told you what a great friend you have been?
How you tackle my emotions, turn them sometimes to a win?
Having retired from my career and job of nearly thirty years,
I'd already had my share of joys, more than enough of tears.
The computer age was just beginning, quite a bit too late for me.
I didn't know you were a brand new way of living vicariously.
Perhaps I had a latent talent that I hadn't recognized
And more of a yen for poetry than I had realized
When my son brought a word processor in Nineteen Ninety-nine
And asked me to write my memoirs. No way did I divine
The storm of words that would spew forth, the enjoyment waiting there,
Or the many friends that I would find, who would be glad to share.
In less than a month my son had died. He did not live to know
What a wonder he had given me. I wish that I could show
The honors I have garnered on these pages and on more.
My humble poems have been read in this land from shore to shore.
Poets from other nations have reached out to hold my hand
When I wrote of loss and sorrow, just to say they understand.
My first poems were sad and mournful, for I had lost my son.
It was a way of healing and soon I had begun
To try out the forms and flavors that would make me a poet true
I'm old enough to be great-grandma, but as a poet, fairly new.
Dear computer you now work over-time, every evening after dinner.
I'm happily entering contests and striving for a winner.
Rewritten: For this contest 4/2/15
Now I went to college many years ago
But I'm sure there were things I missed
'Cause some of the words I read today
Well, they just didn't exist
I knew all the words like "thee" and "thou"
Like Shakespeare wrote about
The poems were simple with simple words
And my knowledge was never in doubt
Words by the masters were easy to read
Like Dickinson, Poe and Frost
But somewhere on this road to fame
All the easy words got lost
It has to be this computer age
At least that's what I think
'Cause if the poets of old wrote these words
They'd keep on running out of ink
So keep on writing your great big words
Like a bugler blowing his bugle
'Cause I'm the smartest man who ever lived
Thanks to a thing called Google
Made quite an impression, it seems
On the chair, I've been glued to so long
The indentation is an exact replica
Of my rear, hmmm, sounds like a song
Me bum and me chair are going steady
Only leave when I have to go poop
Methinks maybe atrophy is setting in
So I think I'll shoot some hoops
It's surely a result of this computer age
Our bodies will soon have no use
Our heads will be the size of basketballs
But our bodies will be an excuse
Excuse to hold up our 100-pound heads
With its gigabytes of storage space
We'll actually need some kind of device
Or we'll continue to fall on our face
Made quite an impression, it surely seems
On the chair, I've been glued to so long
Thinks I'll go for a ride in my old jalopy
An old Dodge I bought for a song
Flying from the Middle Ages
to the 21st Century
An astronaut
passes through amber clouds
on his way here
Leaving behind ancient
ceremonies
He strives to capture
the new found sensations
which have touched all of us
in this the "computer age"
Leaping across this blue earth
he tastes the reality
we've all learned to live with
Dancing on thin ice
He becomes one
with the asphalt homeland
you'll know him
when you see him
He is respendent
in a silver uniform
covered with flecks of gold
which reflect the light
from our source of life
the brillant star
we call the SUN
After much cajoling by my kids and grandkids over the years,
I entered the computer age with great tremblings and fears.
My Selectric typewriter and encyclopedia were comprehensible to me,
Now, I'm totally bewildered and fear I'll click the wrong key!
I've read every "Computers for Dummies" book that I can.
They might as well have been written in Afghanistan!
I've mastered turning it on and shutting it down all alone,
But beyond that, little about its operation is known!
Windows pop up saying, "Your program performed an illegal operation!"
I panic knowing that I'm facing twenty years of incarceration!
Daily I'm deluged with dozens of e-mails called "spam",
Wanting to sell this and that, proffering the usual scam!
Trying to coordinate the mouse and that little arrow on the screen,
Is akin to controlling the elusive Mexican jumping bean!
I've tried to master cursors, gigabytes and the system unit;
Alas, I'm technically challenged, there ain't no doubt about it!
With this computer thing my life has assumed a baffling demension.
Icons, floppy discs and CD-ROMS are beyond my comprehension.
My eyes glaze over as I sweat and ponder what to do.
Lord, deliver me from this perdition, I need a computer guru!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
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