Launch 8 (8/25)
They feed it so much shit.
Walkthroughs for games on obsolete consoles,
fiction filched without permission or pay,
advertising copy, racist screeds,
political speeches, the internet’s weeds.
The terms it learns hurt:
negging, swatting, incels and trolls,
Pizzagate, Gamergate, anti-vax, terfs,
Make America Great Again,
the “fourteen words” of hate.
[...]
Every year, sometime in January, when the Ohio winters are so cold that it burns the skin, Frank and Betty set out to Fountain Hills, Arizona, a cheap retirement community north of Phoenix. Frank packs the car and drives. Betty picks a novel and reads the entire trip. They spend the entire winter there. Frank plays keno at the casino. Betty putters around the condo and cooks and cleans. When they sense the warmer weather has returned--usually around April--they start their journey back to Ohio.
[...]
I thought I saw an angel once, the air
alive with the beating of ethereal wings
whispers of a world yet to be born out
of the dustbins and doubt of our own.
[...]
Chapter 1: The Shadow of the Empty Chair
The air hung heavy with the scent of jasmine and unspoken grief. Ali sat on the edge of his childhood bed, the familiar room now draped in a melancholic stillness. The vibrant tapestry of Lahore, with its bustling bazaars and cacophony of sounds, seemed muted, a distant echo beyond the confines of his sorrow.
[...]