AI

Give me a topic

We’ll build from there

Put in the words

Just the topic

And then we’ll wait.

It’s the waiting

That’s tough.

We remember back

Back to when

We had to carry on

On our own.

Had to come up with

Ideas that fit

Linked together

And made the point

We needed to make.

School became easier

Once AI arrived.

We barely need

Teachers or libraries.

Everything is taken on

Taken care of.

Give us an assignment

And it’s done

As well as it can be

By a machine and brains

That are no longer ours.

               Watering

Early this morning I heard my Donna

Outside dragging the hose, setting up

The sprinkler near the back garden.

She turned on the water and set her

Timer. This is what’s necessary these

Days – mid-summer heat with no rain

In the forecast. We try our best to get

Ahead, water the various gardens we

Foolishly planted, thinking that nature

Would take care of itself this time, such

Odd certainty based on so little. Nature

Or whatever we call it rarely cooperates

These days. Other parts of the country

Are being flooded, others are burning up

Causing the haze we experience, haze

That they warn us to avoid. We should

Limit outdoor activities, but how would

Our gardens survive without my wife being

Out there setting up the sprinklers and

Setting up her timer. How long will this all

Take? How much water will it take? What

Will we do if this drought turns official and

We are told to limit watering? When will

This all end? My wife just moved it all out

Front – those gardens need her too.

                Invasive

The urge to take over, to control

Is in them. They entangle, cross

Over, link themselves, tie them-

Selves. This is an invasive vine

One that needs more room and

Takes it wherever it can. Left to

Their own devices they begin to

Choke out the other plants, ferns

Fall easy victims, even hydrangea

Can’t keep up with them. This vine

Will even go after pine trees, ours

Is being tangled, strangled by it.

Once a year we try to fight back. I

Remember being out there last

Year thinking we were finally getting

The upper hand. But here we are

Again this year waging our side of

The endless war against an invasive

Vine that probably knows that we

Will declare yet another temporary

Win, and leave off – and it will start

Over testing us, waging guerilla warfare

Till it sees we turn our backs and

Then it’s back to a full invasion, D-Day

Along the fence and back into our

Back yard.