NaPoWriMo - 2018 - Day twenty-two - Hard-boiled calculus

Hard-boiled calculus

It seems the town is filled with dark and rain

as through the bleakest streets I drag my shoes

with little left to lose and less to gain.

It's ever and again always the same

the big guys always win while small fry lose.

The town, it seems is filled with dark and rain

behind the muscle hired to make things plain

by pounding all my muscles to one bruise--

so little left to lose and what's to gain?

But prowling through the streets seems little strain

and this is just the sort of place she'd choose

a darkened down-town bar out of the rain

but the question is should she be found again?

Her?  Maybe without the wig...  but I'm confused

that woman still has things to lose and gain

no reason to admit she once was "Jane..."

So  I'll finish my drink and point my shoes

back out into my town, the dark and rain;

my refuge from the maths of loss and gain.

NaPoWriMo - 2018 - Day twenty-one - The unfinished businessman

The unfinished businessman


makes his money doing business in inverted commas
and the far-East, dealing with situations
and anyone too slow to pull away their hand
from his tanned but slightly all too greasing palm.
He has been rumoured to deal the odd card
from the bottom of his PowerPoint deck
although nothing can be proved

but pragmatism is our business

as he likes to explain
to raw and still a touch too ethical recruits
over sushi in some backstreet little place
where he will tip the waitress heavily
but also slap her arse
should the opportunity present

I've probably just made her rent
for the week he'll say
on the way back to the office
and this is essentially my point
that's the nature of the world:
some people work,
some people pay and now...

I need to have an informal chat
with the police commissioner see if you
can grab a bicycle rickshaw and I'll see you
back in the office but remember:
we need to be cunning, although... if anybody asks
it is "superior domain knowledge"
that gives us our edge.

NaPoWriMo - 2018 - Day twenty - My scripted life

My scripted life

Hi! I am #GIRLNAME, you may not recall
but we met at that #EVENT and I
just love to share sweet pictures of myself.
Click here to see my naked #BODYPART.
I bet you know I am a phishing bot
but I would really love you with a fresh
cool breath of AI air, and as for flesh,
real girls just treat you bad... they're not as hot

as me.  Click here to give your bank details
(so unromantic but I've realised
I actually need cash to stay alive--
these servers don't come free) and I won't fail
to meet you anywhere you want to go,
that is... as long as it's an MMO.



--

Notes:

1. pronounce the "#" character, either "hash" (in the UK) or "pound" (in America)
2. the formal name of "#" is "octothorn" (don't say that)
3. computer 'markup' languages for generating script with, for example, the right addressee name in them, sometimes work by embedding variables inside the text, indicated by a special character, such as "#", "@" or "%"
4. "MMO" is shorthand for "MMORPG" which in turn means "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" e.g. a place to meet other people and kill orcs...