From The Guardian, Tuesday, April 16, 1912

The maiden voyage of the White Star liner Titanic, the largest ship ever launched, has ended in disaster.

Late last night the White Star officials in New York announced that a message had been received stating that the Titanic sank yesterday morning and that many lives had been lost. An unofficial message from Cape Race, Newfoundland, stated that only 675 have been saved out of 2,200 to 2,400 persons on board. At least 1,500 lives have been lost.

ERRATUM: The final tally wouldn't become official until 111 years later, in 2023.

We stopped believing the world would end about 50 years back. However, a sigh, still escaped my lips. There's something about the turn of the century that gets me shivering. What would I know though? This is only my first.

The News is hard to avoid these days, peering into my mind without my permission. I need to get my implants upgraded...ad free software is so expensive. Although, this is not an ad, it certainly does feel like it. Unnecessary, forced information in my retina! The government be damned !

"Artificial sunlight gives us another year. Glory to the five Kingdoms of the satellite. President Chen announces that the fuel is sufficient to carry us through another 100 years. Climate control is at it's peek and we will continue to make progress. Soon we can have the snow without the cold promises the President. Fine things are coming to the Kingdoms.

On a more serious note, the uprising of androids and robots alike are becoming hostile and violent. They continue to demand to be seen as equals and demand to have rights as sentient beings. A.I President Gaia is working on legislation to unite the Kingdoms granting favour to our mechanical allies. This sounds like the answer we need to end the war and violence on all scales.

People who show prejudice will be dealt with. A warning and goodnight. Your Worldly Daily News. Read by ChatGBT version 130.4. "

Just another day... same old news . Different century. Nothing to worry about, right ?

Thank you robots, AI, androids, aliens, and anyone else out there for tuning in to this weeks mind transfer. Today on planet 01-0001, also known as Earth, a catastrophe struck. President Musk the 5th, a former human, announced that anyone who still has human blood will be eliminated in the next month. It is some tragic news that this species will soon be extinct but hey more bio-plasma-34-fuel for us!

Apparently we're off to a great start to the new year, 2101. Here it is, January 2, and there has yet to be a mass shooting this year. Although it means we've gone only a whole day without one, we are all hopeful.

The President ordered all flags to fly at "full mast" today. This has not been done since some time in 2022, and even that is arguable, given those who died days later following the mass shootings before that day. Life at half-mast has become the way of the banner, each bangled star just as well representing a bullet hole.

How grand that banner shall be, at full height! What symbolism! We can only wonder, Will the sun set on the flag flown this way? Would today be a good day to fund mental health fully? or send a memo to those who decide?

Enjoy today's flag as it struggles against gravity forced upon it by the trouble brewing in some people's minds and likely to reach critical by tomorrow.

Barefoot in the kitchen

Another day has gone by

We work and we parent

Life’s demand we supply

As I scrub the food

Off and away from this plate

I can’t help but wonder

When was our last date

My mind slips away

Daydreaming at its best

Knowing I picked you right

But still waiting for the rest

Waiting for the romance

Waiting for the desire

Waiting for you to profess

Even a days worth of longing desire

I dream of your attention

Without competing with your phone

I dream of a deep conversation

One that tells me I’m not alone

Weighted down by your list

One thing to the next

I can’t help but dream

Of toping the rest

I dream of spontaneity

Let’s paint this town red

I dream of a night

Where we laugh for hours in bed

I don’t need flowers

There is no need for things

I dream of intimacy

Dammit… let’s stop acting like machines!

Don’t get me wrong

You’re a wonderful man

I guess I’m simply sick

Of scrubbing the same pan

As the night grows longer

And my vision grows obscure

Please remember that with a little work

Showing your love is the cure

Once again, tonight

I will give it my best try

As expected, you’re too tired

My dream of connection on standby

I will stay up late

I will turn out the light

Perhaps in my actual dream

Our souls will then reunite

They say sorrow floats

So I put mine in boats

And float it away –

Couldn’t bear it to stay.

You can’t drown sorrow though

As the records all show

If you drink to forget

You’ll remember it yet.

When I float it away

It will come back one day

Often worse than before

Beating down my mind’s door.

So there’s no other way

Face your sorrows today

Deal with each one by one

’Til your sorrows have gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gG5AdGWnVU

I posted this about 4 months ago, but it is appropriate for this challenge, I think.

Vice Versa

•

subtle hints of blade’s keen

glittering chiseled edges

planted in the chest

stirring vague sense of

belonging somewhere down

in the guts

feelings long-gone

gone with the wind

when days carried on

bearing the pain

of things untold

gasping for lifeless air

in lively world of the dead

beneath sinking skies

where stars crumbling

into your callous gaze

over the web of lies you spun

and for once, i belong to you

when nothing left for us to hold on to.

•

22.09.19

Pic: ©Laura Makabresku

https://youtu.be/4fj9ZoUr1XA

The young cannot feel youth

We stuff their mouths

With bitter grapes

So why do we fume

When their mouths

Overflow with wine

Their minds were

Beautifully ignorant

Empty of our world’s

Stifling desires and views

So we fill them with

So much nothing

Until they overflow

We remove their insides

There are gears where

Their hearts should be

And they turn on

And on, and on, and on

To the same clinking

They will convince you

This is your heartbeat

But the children remember

When the song was their own

There is nothing sweeter than Success

even among us thieves, liars, cheats, etc.

We will redefine it as we please—

hijack that happiness if we must

just to see how it would taste for once

though we should know it already well

how Sweetness is always dressed & laced

with guilt, contempt, and bitter regrets—

#NothingSweeter #Challenge