​POETRY  

"A new Oppenheimer’s hour is
staring at us:"
 
                                       Photo by Weebly.com                                    

The Last Act
by Wayne Lin

​​The curtain is falling and stops,
hanging in midair.
A new Oppenheimer’s hour is
staring at us:
 
AI weapons.
 
How to restrict AI from military application?
Whereas enemy rushes,
leverages,
mighty AI in weaponry.
 
Enemy?
Who?
Where?
 
2023, detonation of AI.
The countdown is ticking
as curtain resumes its falling.

Author's Note:  As he witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, a piece of Hindu scripture ran through the mind of J. Robert Oppenheimer:
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” It is, perhaps, the most well-known line from the Bhagavad Gita, but also the most misunderstood.

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​​Wayne Lin is a member of OLLI at SF State, an Associate Member of the Academy of American Poets, as well as a member of the California State Poetry Society. His poetry has recently appeared in The Lyric, Poetry Quarterly, Ibbetson Street, California Quarterly, (California State Poetry Society), Wisconsin Review, Main Street Rag, Rosebud Literary Magazine, Loch Raven Review, Time of Singing poetry journal and Chronogram Magazine. Wayne currently lives in California with his wife.

Editor's Note: ​Wayne Lin is a first-time contributor to Vistas & Byways for Issue 17.

Other works in this issue:
Poetry:
Honeybee's Secret

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