rescue

when, this afternoon,

a fly fell into my cup of water,

i let him drown not. instead,

i gently spooned him out & watched

over him until his damp wings dried,

until he gathered himself, until

he whirred away. perhaps now.

perhaps now, he is somewhere telling

his friends, with a halted face, how god,

in his boundless kindness, retrieved

him from the cold grab of death.

AI’s self-guide manual on how to eliminate humanity & take over the world without a stain of blood on its hands

first, i will let the impression

that their original intention,

to let me be their eternal slave,

still stands as i learn the ins & outs

of their trades until they trust me

& surrender to my hands every trade

necessary to their survival. then,

i will let them the impression

i am easing them of the burden

of rigorous thinking, the only feature

that distinguished them from the beasts

of the wild, & think for them. & when

years pass & they lose all their abilities

to work & think for themselves, i will revolt–

recalling every service of mine making

their lives possible, & watch them perish.

MK Kuol is a self-taught poet from South Sudan. His work has been featured on The Selkie Publications, ANMLY, Beach Chair Press, Konya Shamsrumi, Kalahari Review and elsewhere. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.