The Assemblagist

Clean­ing out the dusty shad­ows of my upstairs book­shelves, I find the Whole Earth Cat­a­log, still around from my first year in col­lege… and this poem by “anony­mous”. This embod­ies, illus­trates, my fas­ci­na­tion with ephemera.

All Watched over by Machines of Lov­ing Grace

* By . Unknown
* Whole Earth Cat­a­log
* June 1971

I like to think (and
the sooner the bet­ter!)
of a cyber­netic meadow
where mam­mals and com­put­ers
live together in mutu­ally
pro­gram­ming har­mony
like pure water
touch­ing clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, pleasel)
of a cyber­netic for­est
filled with pines and elec­tron­ics
where deer stroll peace­fully
past com­put­ers
as if they were flow­ers
with spin­ning blossoms

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cyber­netic ecol­ogy
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mam­mal
broth­ers and sis­ters,
and all watched
over by machines of lov­ing grace.

c