The Cusp

written in December '21

reaching the middle ages,
not so much for society
but for the people born
on that cusp

the cusp where the
TV was switched on
manually to where the
TV was turned on by voice

and we’ll probably pass
away when the flying car
prototypes finally get off
the ground

George Jetson is in the
gestational stage, supposedly

but getting Rosie to be
a viable AI is still miles
off in the future, supposedly

progress occurs with or
without our permission

as much as things aren’t permissible,
everything is still permissible
(relatively so, so to speak)

feel free to desecrate venerated objects
before a crowd of holy rollers,
but expect the righteous backlash
immediately afterward

we are on the cusp,
the cusp between keeping
and putting away childish things

the question remains,
which things are childish
and which things are not?

at this point in our collective
existence, the answer remains
as elusive as it ever did

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I like the old days. Parks, field trips and family eating meals together. Today world. No time to feel the sun on our face Kenneth. You described the new world. Hard to keep up with. I hope you are enjoying the days of auburn. Thank you for sharing the amazing poetry and your thoughts.
Coyote

[Kenneth The Poet]

No problem, thanks for reviewing.

[Kane Hagwood]

This feels like a powerful piece about being in the brink of new technology and new social structure in our world as we know it. All the shows we saw on TV, depicting flying cars and futuristic cities, are somewhat being realized today, but in stranger ways than we could have imagined. This piece got me thinking a little bit. I took it in, leaned back a bit in my chair, and asked myself: What *are* the childish things we're going to put away when this new age fully invents itself before us.

This is a wonderful piece; thank you for sharing! Keep on writing :)

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you for this review. I deeply appreciate it.

[Kane Hagwood]

Always happy to review another writer's work!

[Ms claws]

Ah! Kenneth The Poet, I see you've read the Bible So you know most answers to your own questions.
Rosie?

[Kenneth The Poet]

Rosie, the maid robot from the Jetsons.

[Ms claws]

The new life-like partners. I thought you meant that.
Or Rosie Palm.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Walking, talking robots are what I thought AI might be when I was younger. Turns out I was way wrong.

[Ms claws]

I think we all need one...You know for that occasional ride when the partner doesn't want to go. I haven't seen a male yet. Females always get the shaft.

[Jansy]

I think I was born right at that cusp. I still remember those giant boxed TVs, the old dinosaur ones. I even tried to climb on one when I was like five and it fell right on me...I thought I was done for, lol.

I still remember going to my grandma's around 2008. She had one of those small gaming system, probably made in China, with a hundred games in one. I wasted way too many hours on Duck Hunter and a space game. I can't remember it anymore.

Your poem really nails that feeling of eras. The old and the new, analog and digital. That “cusp” energy hits me now, where some things feel nostalgic and childish, while others are already shaping the future. You captured it perfectly; it made me pause and smile because it’s exactly how it feels to grow up in that in-between space.

[Kenneth The Poet]

You nailed it. I grew up with a TV set that we could change channels with vice grips because the knobs were broken off. That TV lasted well into the 1990s. Thanks for all the reviews.

[Jansy]

Vice grips? Wait what? I... I don’t think I've ever seen that. Is it on YouTube? Interesting stuff

[Kenneth The Poet]

They are basically a complicated set of pliers with an adjustable on one of the handles. They are quite helpful in the use of gripping applications.

[Jansy]

Yes. But I just don’t see how a vice grip is needed for a television? hahaha. If I ask my dad, he'll go on an hours long talk about a tracks and stuff. I'll probably just Google it. Thank you though.