Lifestyle Features

Till rust do us part

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines

By JAMES PARKER | October 17, 2007

Lines upon learning that an artificial-intelligence researcher at the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands, has predicted that, by 2050, robot-human marriage will be legal in the state of Massachusetts.

Love is a current, as Tesla knew, so how can I always be “on”?
Feeling ebbs, indifference drones, deep in my cyborg dugout.
I do my thing as laundry-folder and part-time orgasmatron,
But often and often I long for the day when they pull my fucking plug out.

| More

ARTICLES BY JAMES PARKER

FINDING OUT WHAT MAKES THE MEAT PUPPETS TICK WITH A NEW ORAL HISTORY | May 30, 2012
As half-assed a form as it can be, the rock-band oral history is a folk form nonetheless, with a great claim to authenticity.

THEY AIN'T HEAVY, THEY'RE THE KIRKWOOD BROTHERS | May 31, 2012
Finding out what makes the Meat Puppets tick with a new oral history

GETTING TO KNOW PHILIP LARKIN WITH A NEW EDITION OF HIS POEMS | April 26, 2012
"A smash of glass and a rumble of boots/Electric trains and a ripped-up phonebooth/Paint-spattered walls and the cry of a tomcat/Lights going out, and a kick in the balls." These lines are not by Philip Larkin, of course — they're by Paul Weller.

BLACK SABBATH ARE BACK — IN PRINT AND ON FILM | November 14, 2011
The literature on Black Sabbath — already extensive — will continue to grow, as we try, try, try again to wrap our poor noggins around the irreducibly cosmic fact of this band.