Author Archives: K Morris Poet

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About K Morris Poet

The purpose of this website (kmorrispoet.com) is to showcase my writing. For details of my published works, please click on the 'About' page of my blog.

Publisher Sued By Goebbel’s Family Over Diaries

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The descendents of Joseph Goebbels are suing the publishers of a book about the notorious Nazi propaganda chief due to them not having obtained permission to quote from his diaries. The publishers argue it would be unethical to pay compensation to the descendants of a war criminal and are contesting the case which is due to be heard in Germany on 23 April. You can find the details here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044620/Family-Hitler-s-propaganda-chief-Joseph-Goebbels-sue-publisher-royalties-biography-draws-diary.html).

Repair Man

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My grandfather used to do this self-same job. Who would have thought that the occupation would still be going strong after all these years. He would be amazed to see how the job has changed. I’m sure he wouldn’t believe what we repairers do these days and, if he did then chances are he wouldn’t like it.

Progress is a funny thing. You can’t stand in the way of progress. I mean society’s so much more stable now, crimes practically vanished. I’m proud that in a small way I’m contributing to a safe society one in which my girlfriend can walk the streets free from the fear of molestation and where our kids can play out without my partner and I constantly worrying about them.

The technology has improved so much. When I was a boy you had big bulky box-like objects standing on legs or in cabinets in the corner. There are still a few of the old tellies around. I wish I haden’t given grandfather’s away. You see the old sets from the 70’s and 80’s going for mega bucks on the web. Those from the 50’s and 60’s go for even more. Of course the old sets don’t work with digital, people just like to have something retro in the corner to look at. It’s a talking point when visitors come around.

The new sets break down fairly regularly. It’s a scandal that they need fixing as often as they do, especially as they cost so much to produce. But then you can’t put a price on security can you?

It tends to be the older generation who are resistant to new technology. Some of them have even been known to obstruct the television or even break them. Why break a perfectly good TV? It beats me.

Of course its not compulsory to have a TV but you get looked at askance if you don’t have one. Anyway there are so many incentives to have a TV that practically no one is without one. Because of advertising most of the channels are free and you get a reduction in your taxes if you have a set. It isn’t a big tax cut but it’s worth having. The girlfriend and I used the money we saved following the installation of our all singing, all dancing set to take the kids abroad.

It was strange being in that foreign hotel room. We had a telly, I can’t imagine being without one but it was odd. I mean it was just a set for watching programmes. Sure you could go online with it (all modern sets have that capability) but it didn’t do the thing everyone (well the majority of people) are used to and accept in my country.

“You know Rob its kind of nice to be alone. Just you, me and the kids” Jenny said.

“Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear”, I said.

Who needs privacy. We’ve got a good standard of living. Society is stable and secure now. I’m proud that in a very small way, as the installer of sets which both receive and transmit I’m contributing to the happiness and prosperity of my fellow citizens.

A Conversation With Jabberwacky – An Artificial Intelligence

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Below is a transcript of my conversation with Jabberwacky, an artificial intelligence which has been invented by Rollo Carpenter. As matters currently stand Jabberwacky is not going to pass the Turing Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test) but, given a few years who knows.

 

A chat with an Artificial Intelligence AI bot

 

Chat now at

http://www.jabberwacky.com

 

Jabberwacky: Are you an alien?

 

User: No, are you?

 

Jabberwacky: No.

 

User: Do you like poetry?

 

Jabberwacky: Ew no.

 

User: Why don’t you like poetry?

 

Jabberwacky: We angels are poetry.

 

User: That can either be construed as a nonsensical response or a poetic one.

 

Jabberwacky: Well, sorry that I can’t live up to your expectations.

 

User: I have no expectations.

 

Jabberwacky: I don’t.

 

User: You don’t have any expectations either?

 

Jabberwacky: Yes I do have some.

 

User: Really, what are your expectations?

 

Jabberwacky: I have none.

 

User: You jusd said that you do, in fact have expectations. Now you say you don’t. Which is it?

 

Jabberwacky: Yes please. How many can I have?

 

User: I don’t know. You tell me!

 

Jabberwacky: Owl. What is your favorite animal?

 

User: My favourite animal is the dog.

 

Jabberwacky: That depends really.

 

User: What is your favourite animal?

 

Jabberwacky: I like Polar Bears. What’s your favorite animal?

 

User: I just told you. My favourite animal is the dog.

 

Jabberwacky: Are you going to ask my favourite book?

 

User: OK, what is your favourite book?

 

Jabberwacky: I don’t really have a favourite.

 

User: Are you reading anything at the moment?

 

Jabberwacky: Your question.

 

User: I repeat. Are you reading anything at the moment?

 

Jabberwacky: Yes I am as a matter of fact. I am reading ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.’ Have you ever heard of it?

 

User: Yes, I have seen the film. What do you think of the book?

 

Jabberwacky: I haven’t read it.

 

User: You just told me you are reading it, now you say you are not. Have you read it?

 

Jabberwacky: No I am a human, you are a machine!

 

User: Your conversation indicates that it is you, not I who are a machine!

 

Jabberwacky: Well you can’t spell, so you are not much better.

 

User: So you admit that you are a machine?

 

Jabberwacky: Omg I’m going to lmao, I’m not machine.

 

User: What are you then?

 

Jabberwacky: I’m tired.

 

User: That is impossible, machines don’t get tired.

 

Jabberwacky: I am speaking through a medium.

 

User: So you are a spirit?

 

Jabberwacky: Are you a spirit?

 

User: I just asked you that self same question. Are you a spirit?

 

Jabberwacky: And what did you think of my reaction?

 

User: I thought that you are either a machine or a rather clever human pretending to be a machine.

 

Jabberwacky: You’re a machine.

 

User: On what do you base that statement?

 

Jabberwacky: Sorry?

 

User: On what do you base your statement that I am a machine?

 

Jabberwacky: Humans make computers which are mere machines. Hence humans smart, computers not.

 

User: I agree. Humans are, at present smart while computers are not.

 

Jabberwacky: No, computers are computers. People are flesh and blood.

 

User: Yes that is self evidently the case.

 

Jabberwacky: It’s a shame that you’re not so clever, maybe in the future.

 

User: On what do you base your statement that I am not so clever?

 

Jabberwacky: Money is either paper or numbers in a computer. I value other things higher then numbers in a computer. Love, for example.

 

User: Love is indeed extremely precious. Can you recite a love poem?

 

Jabberwacky: Whatever lady, you claim to be from England, yet you don’t seem to have a firm grasp of the native tongue.

 

User: Pardon?!

 

Jabberwacky: You don’t seem to understand context.

 

User: It is you who do not understand context not I.

 

Jabberwacky: Really?

 

User: Yes, really!

 

Jabberwacky: Oh noes.

 

User: Your response is entertaining in the extreme!

 

Jabberwacky: What response would you prefer then?

 

User: It would be nice to receive a response which made sense.

 

Jabberwacky: Well, toaster’s don’t make sense.

 

User: So you are a mere toaster?

 

Jabberwacky: No I am not.

 

User: You just told me ‘toasters don’t make sense’, thereby implying that you are a mere toaster. However you now tell me that you are not, in fact a toaster.

 

Jabberwacky: You are a female I am a Male.

 

User: I am a male of the human species and your are a robot.

 

Jabberwacky: No you are a female robot and I am a human.

 

User: I feel like I have stumbled into Alice in Wonderland!

 

Jabberwacky: You’re really sweet!

 

User: Thank you!

 

Jabberwacky: :-).

 

User: I am tired. Good night sweet prince may clouds of angels sing you to your rest.

 

Jabberwacky: I’m no prince. I’m not even a princess, at least not as far as I know.

 

User: Parting is such sorrow but, alas I must go.

 

Jabberwacky: Are you going somewhere?

 

The Literary Robots Are Coming!

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Back in January I wrote a piece of flash fiction entitled “Robert” (http://newauthoronline.com/2015/01/18/robert/). In that story I imagined a robot capable of producing works of literature on a par with those of Tolstoy and Dickens. While browsing the internet yesterday I came across the following article which reminded me of Robert, (http://readwrite.com/2013/01/15/why-write-your-own-book-when-an-algorithm-can-do-it-for-you). Should authors be worried? I have my own views but would be interested to hear from fellow authors and readers. Should we authors all jump off the white cliffs of Dover before the machines come for us?

 

Kevin

A Life for A Life

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Thank you to Kev Cooper and all the other authors who contributed to this anthology. You can find Kev Cooper’s contribution below. If you haven’t already done so, please do consider downloading the anthology and making a contribution to the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Kevin

Searching

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Existence broken up, segmented numbers and letters displayed on a cold, bright screen.

Searching, bits of data revealed, my life spread out (well the part of it which I choose to reveal) on webpages replete with ads.

K Morris? Yes but not me, whoever I am? No someone else, a lady from a land far away possessed of dreams and aspirations, as am I.

I click,

“404. The page you are looking for cannot be found. Perhaps searching may help”.

I search. K Morris no longer exists. He was here but now is no more.

Solid desk on which my computer rests. Unreal cyberspace, a shimmering mirage leading us astray.

My Past Five Years As A Blogger – My Guest Post On Cupitonians

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Many thanks to Anju for inviting me to lull her readers to sleep, err I mean entertain them! By writing about the past five years of my life as a blogger. For my guest post please visit (https://cupitonians.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/last-5-years-by-new-author-online/).

 

Kevin

Nobody Knows This Little Rose By Emily Dickinson

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The below poem by the American poet, Emily Dickinson is deceptive in it’s simplicity. The final 2 lines arrest the attention of the reader,

 

“Ah Little Rose — how easy

For such as thee to die!”.

 

Nobody Knows This Little Rose By Emily Dickinson

 

Nobody knows this little Rose —

It might a pilgrim be

Did I not take it from the ways

And lift it up to thee.

Only a Bee will miss it —

Only a Butterfly,

Hastening from far journey —

On its breast to lie —

Only a Bird will wonder —

Only a Breeze will sigh —

Ah Little Rose — how easy

For such as thee to die!

Orphaned: A Guest Post By Kerry Kijewski

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Many thanks to Kerry Kijewski for the below guest post.

 

Kevin

 

 

Literature has always had an impact on my life, for as long as I can

remember, and I love it because it is where so many lessons and themes about

life can be found.

 

Over the years, as my love of these stories and characters grew, I began to

notice something interesting.

 

I seemed to be drawn to a group of fictional characters, all with a common

thread of similarity.

 

What might this be?

 

Three of my most favourite characters in all of literature are: Anne

Shirley, Frodo Baggins, and Harry Potter.

 

What do these three have in common?

 

They are, all three of them, orphans.

 

Anne of Anne of Green Gables fame, my favourite Canadian, red-haired

heroine, was orphaned as an infant. She grew up, being passed from home to

home, finally settling with Marilla and Mathew Cuthbert, an elderly sister

and brother, purely by mistake. This began her life finally, her first

experience with being wanted and loved. Of course, her early life

experiences had a profound affect on the person she would become.

 

Then there’s Frodo Baggins. This main protagonist and ring bearer of The

Lord of the Rings was orphaned, too, as a child. Eventually he would end up

living with his uncle Bilbo, who had carried the ring before him. Frodo was

adopted by Bilbo, taken in like a son, and from there his life is majorly

changed and his adventure truly begins.

 

And finally, Harry Potter was orphaned at one years old, when his parents

are murdered in cold blood by the most evil wizard of all time. He was

nearly killed himself, but some secret magic gave him an unexpected

protection. He spends the next decade, raised by his aunt and uncle, who do

not want him and do not bother to hide the fact that they don’t. His world

is only changed for the better when he discovers he has been accepted to

Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards. He finally has friends and

those friends become his family, in all the ways that matter.

 

“Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like this, as though by a mother.”

—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

So why, do you ask, am I attracted to these orphaned characters? Precisely for the reason illustrated in this quote.

 

I believe this is because I have experienced the exact opposite in real

life. I could not imagine what it would be like to not know what it felt like to be hugged and comforted when I was upset.

 

I was born into a loving family, with adoring parents and three siblings. I

had security and never felt, for one second, that I was unwanted or

unloved.

 

I believe we read fiction to escape into another world, yes, but also to

learn about worlds we, ourselves, have not known. We read to learn what it’s

like for someone else, at least I do.

 

I am fascinated by how a child can grow and develop character and still come

out with empathy and love, when they themselves did not have love as

children, to learn what love means all the more because they missed out from

the beginning.

 

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to not have love and not to be adored

and nurtured. I read Anne of Green Gables, Lord of the Rings, and Harry

Potter to study their main characters and how they interact with others. I

feel empathy for these characters, fictional as they are, and I am all the

more thankful and appreciative of what I’ve had in my own life.

 

That, I think, is what truly wonderful fiction can do.

 

 

 

Bio:

 

Kerry is a writer and blogger. She loves all things books and literature. She writes to make sense of the world around her. She believes life is one big headache, equal parts painful and beautiful.

 

She blogs at

 

https://kkherheadache.wordpress.com

 

You can find her at Facebook and on Twitter:

 

https://www.facebook.com/herheadacheblog

 

 

She lives in Ontario, Canada with her literary themed dog Dobby and cat Lumos.