I know it seems unlikely
but I simply can’t help feeling
there’s an urgency to writing:
and in verse, and fluently.
We’ve our cultural traditions
that have coevolved with language
and each language has its verse forms
that are aids to memory.
It’s all fine that we are moving
to post-literate existence
where the things all talk and tell you
everything you need, you must,
when the neon signs and fridges
can discuss with you their content,
you don’t need to read or count if
their integrity you trust.
But embedded in our braincells
are the patterns of our language
and our need to think in patterns
drives our songs, makes us a folk,
it gives dub and rap and hip-hop,
it drives rhetoric in speeches,
and the false anticipation
of the punchline of a joke.
With our cultures integrating
with AI and with each other,
we risk losing all our history,
our culture and, what’s worse,
our minds! So sing to babies,
have kids memorise long poems,
learn the maths of songs and music -
learn and read and write in verse!
