From the egg-like membrane
of her head
to the crescent-mooned toes
on her feet,
her skin was yielding
and not synthetic;
soft and warm,
it responded to my touch.
She was programmed
to be forever childlike
but she possessed
an adult logic,
a precociousness
lacking innocence,
as if she knew my every thought;
a hint of malevolence
behind eyes so blue and enthusiastic
disguised by her childish smile.
No babies for would-be single mothers,
broody women in a world without fathers,
nothing to remind those left behind
what it’s like to create humankind;
just the maternal feeling that blooms from within
when caressing your adopted child’s cyborg skin.
Kim M. Russell, 2017
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night: Casting a Spell
Linda is our host for OLN this Thursday and she sets the mood with a Halloween poem by Arthur Cleveland Coxe, a video clip of Poe’s Raven read by Christopher Lee, and she is serving up a Delightful Witches Brew Cocktail at the bar.
I thought I’d resurrect (the only link to Poe) a poem from 2017, which was published in Visual Verse – with a new image.
writing in north norfolk 
Wow Kim- I love this, a cyborg child!
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🙂
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Great poem. I think cyborgs are cool.
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Thank you, Toni, I do too!
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I always root for the Terminator!
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Well done.. Eerie..!!
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Thank you, Rivera!
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I think it sounds a bit creepy to have such cleverness hiding behind a mask of innocence.
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Creepy indeed…
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Oh Kim, this is a touching, and slightly creepy, tale of motherhood. Perfect for the season. A world without men. A fantasy likely shared by many women. There is most certainly one I myself could do without! I would not sustain in a world without women.
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Thankyou, Rob! It’s dystopia with no men, no war, but no huiman babies – just cyborgs to fulfil the maternal instinct.
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I’m reading Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King. You should check it out.
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That looks good, Lily. I’ll check it out at the library.
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You blew my socks off, Kim! This is amazing!! ❤️❤️
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Thank you so much, Sanaa! 😉
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The closing has a hint of desperation, or perhaps a warning of what is to come if we do not right the wrongs of society.
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You are quite right, Ken!
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Kim, this idea could be used as a starting point to one heck of a story. Brilliant. The idea of no real human babies being born is devastating.
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Thank you, Jade. You’ve given me something to think about. I’d like to do it in poems.
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I would love to see that.
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Oh, they are creepy, but someday we may see them
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It might be sooner than we think.
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You weave this chiller with steel and mandrake.
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Go raibh maith agat, Brendan!
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Wow interesting and creepy at the same time.
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Thank you!
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Nice description and these lines: “a precociousness
lacking innocence,”
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Thank you, Frank.
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OOOH a scary girl for sure! Love it.
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Thanks Dwight!
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That’s a great image and a chilling thought. (K)
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The original image that inspired the poem was even more chilling – it looked real!
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it is the feel and touch of her replicant skin that stirs the mother here – very evocative Kim
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“egg-like membrane
of her head”…….great tactile image, Kim….poem has an eerie Sci-Fi feel to it….as technology catches up with fiction, the possibilities become even more disturbing….well done…JIM
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Thanks Jim!
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