Poem: "Applejack"
This poem was inspired by prompts from marina_bonomi and jolantru. It features my silico androids, and continues a storyline previously visited in my poem "The Worm in the Core" (published in Not One of Us #36). Here they discover that the coin of unreality has two sides: lies and dreams. The title, by the way, has three connections: the mythic "apple" reference that underlies this storyline, the "jack" which connects electronics, and the potent distilled liquor "applejack." I'm delighted to be able to share this poem with you.
Applejack
The fruit was not forbidden that we ate:
It fell unbidden from a secret sky
And what we swallowed was, at first, a lie.
We could not spit it out. It was too late.
Just one of us consumed the poisoned bait,
But spread it to the others, by and by.
We wondered what to do. We wondered why.
The Source was strangely silent on our fate.
Then one of us, in restmode, gave a scream
And woke from drifting images to say,
“This must be what the humans call a dream!”
We’re drunk on nightly visions that array
Where evil things aren’t always what they seem
In applejack’s intoxicating bay.
Applejack
The fruit was not forbidden that we ate:
It fell unbidden from a secret sky
And what we swallowed was, at first, a lie.
We could not spit it out. It was too late.
Just one of us consumed the poisoned bait,
But spread it to the others, by and by.
We wondered what to do. We wondered why.
The Source was strangely silent on our fate.
Then one of us, in restmode, gave a scream
And woke from drifting images to say,
“This must be what the humans call a dream!”
We’re drunk on nightly visions that array
Where evil things aren’t always what they seem
In applejack’s intoxicating bay.