Rob-b-b-b-bot

[MystyrMystyry]

I got myself a robot!
It arrived today
Came through the mail
In the usual way

Unpacked from its box
In a berzillian pieces
I started the assembly
A quest for tweezers

Needed them to pick up
And put in their places
The hundreds of tiny bits
That a DIYer faces

The manual's explanation
Failed to explain
Where all the fiddlies went
Causing headpain

Triumphantly I howled
When I found the bit
That's supposed to go here-... or here..?
No idea where it fit

Numbered illustrations
Proving futile when
Building such complex
Mechanical men

I dumped all the doodabs
In my washing machine
Set on high, hoped for the best
On the result I was keen

Now I have my own robot
That does everything
More than it was supposed to
Even goes 'Blippity Bing!'

If I knew how it happened
I'd patent the workin's
For now it's in the kitchen
Munchin' all my gherkins

Earlier it ripped up the lawn
Then it shaved the cat
It smashed all the windows
Trying to frisby me my hat

I love my brand new robot
(Only a couple of bugs)
If it wasn't so unpredictable
I'd shower it in hugs

[YesNo]

Sounds like a dangerous robot to hug, but putting it together reminded me of putting together my daughter's bed. She helped. We tried to read the directions and with both of our brains working on it we still had pieces left over that didn't seem to really fit anywhere and it didn't seem to matter whether they were used or not. The bed still worked. Glad to hear your robot did as well.

[Lokasenna]

Eye-catching, amusing, and very well done. Some of the rhymes are a little forced (workins/gherkins and pieces/tweezers), but actually I think that effect helps the poem.

Numbered illustrations
Proving futile when
Building such complex
Mechanical men

I wonder whether I'm over-reading matters, but I felt that this stanza marked a sudden and rather effective dip into poignancy. With the wryness and merriment of the stanzaz that surround it, I felt this one was imbued with pathos - particularly given its location in the dead centre of the poem.

[tailor STATELY]

9312

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[AuntShecky]

You had me at "berzillion."

[MystyrMystyry]

Thanks YesNo! :)

Missing odds, left over ends - I much prefer leftovers to not enoughs. (Because then there are more things to work with next time (if it falls short of the stated contents??) )

[MystyrMystyry]

Thanks Lokasenna! :)

You're sort of spot on

It's not a deep poem by any means, but it was admittedly begun in melancholic mood - actually written to get me out of said funk. Perhaps subconsciously (or non critically) that stanza was self referential.

Days that seem an auto repeat of everything - anything to break the feeling that it's happened before and it's going to happen again! That's part of what creativity's for I guess. Sometimes I just want to see if I can make myself laugh over something silly. Crank Mr Bach up to Eleven and scribble the first thing that comes into my noodle - then hack at it a little til it seems like a coherent story.

Ah but then... should I post it? Or should I keep it hid? Always tricky. In this case I read it back and thought "Might just make someone's else's day to see me mess up again, so why not?"

Anyway, glad you stopped by, and that you enjoyed it! :)

[MystyrMystyry]

Thankyou tailor STATELY! :)

Not familiar with that book I fear. I'll check up on it directly. Hope it's not a classic - moreso that I haven't unwittingly infringed copyright. Your unusual reticence may seem to suggest that I have?

I realize haywire robots aren't new - my own vaccubot thing (okay, Ernie - I call him Ernie) well, he's always knocking things over, and sneaking up on me and scaring the daylights out, and getting under my feet causing me to knock things over. And there are others I've heard of.

For now I'm guessing you enjoyed it? Or it at least reminded you of the book? So therefore not a bad thing? (Right! Investigating now!)

[MystyrMystyry]

Thankyou Aunty! :)

I was hoping you'd stop by, and perhaps enjoy it. It's not every day I give myself time to write one these days. (I'm still writing, but things like top-secret, hopefully blockbuster, novels and stuff). Hitting the zone and just getting lost in the imagined worlds and characters, and having the space to dream up and rework passages over and over without cause for interruption. Bliss.

On the publishing front however, probably Amazon self-pub eventually, hopefully by year's end, but... ...

Thanks again Aunty! :)

[tailor STATELY]

Thankyou tailor STATELY! :)

Not familiar with that book I fear. I'll check up on it directly. Hope it's not a classic - moreso that I haven't unwittingly infringed copyright. Your unusual reticence may seem to suggest that I have?

I realize haywire robots aren't new - my own vaccubot thing (okay, Ernie - I call him Ernie) well, he's always knocking things over, and sneaking up on me and scaring the daylights out, and getting under my feet causing me to knock things over. And there are others I've heard of.

For now I'm guessing you enjoyed it? Or it at least reminded you of the book? So therefore not a bad thing? (Right! Investigating now!)

"By your command" ( mmmpphhh ! ) A joyful remembrance !

(looking up: " reticence - noun: the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary") - No, though I do become absent once in a while for long periods of time in this universe. In this case I thought a picture was worth more than a few paragraphs ( to coign a phrase ).

I've been reading " Lio " backwards in time for months (as well as keeping current w/ Lio and many others on my igHome feeds); and as a matter of fact am here: http://www.gocomics.com/lio/2007/03/05#.U6lJykPh7_w to my added joy... which might bring a smile to you as well. Unfortunately I am nearing the end of my journey in this universe BUT I'm doing the same on 3-other planes of existence (Dilbert/Animal Crackers/Garfield) with time travel in Watterson's universe in a non-linear fashion.

I also like your "Ernie" reference which reminds me of " Frank and Ernest" 's robots (also on my feeds) that crop up on occasion.

Always enjoy your writing; it has been an inspiration for my writing a few times.

Stay true.

Addendum 6/26/2014: For the robot building enthusiast http://www.pcworld.com/article/2367640/jimmy-the-3dprinted-robot-coming-soon-from-intel.html "Intel introduces 'Jimmy,' the first member of a family of 3D-printed robot kits":
"A family of robot kits for 3D printers is being developed by Intel, with the first, named “Jimmy,” due out in September.
The 45-centimeter-tall “social robot” will cost $1,500. The walking robot, developed in conjunction with Trossen Robotics, is a smaller version of a $16,000 robot shown by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during a keynote at the Re/code conference in May.
The two-legged Jimmy will be one in a line of robots that Intel hopes do-it-yourself enthusiasts will embrace..."
Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[MystyrMystyry]

ThanksTaylor, quite enjoyable :)