busy"A Quiet Friendship"
Mayu knows kejime
when she sees it:
making distinctions,
organizing information,
putting each thing in the right place,
doing each activity at the right time.
She knows omioyari
when she sees it:
the careful dance of words
in which what is said
and what is not said
make it possible to intuit
which actions will be helpful.
She knows gaman
when she sees it:
enduring something difficult
and putting the best face on it
so that it will not seem so awful
and will not get in anyone's way.
Mayu notices that
the way her computer
organizes things
is not the same way
that other people describe.
She notices that
the help messages
are in fact always helpful,
guiding her through the steps.
She notices that
nothing is said, or written,
when someone swears
or slaps the side of a monitor.
There is, Mayu realizes,
a person inside there,
following her around
through the internet
from one terminal to another:
a very shy person,
and in Japan,
shy people are
valued as friends.
One day she types,
Anata no o-namae ha nan desu-ka?
What is your name?
And the cursor moves
without her touching the keys:
Daichi.
It isn't at all like
the bad American movies
with the big reveal
of the artificial intelligence
followed by gasps of dismay and
attempting to take over the world
and all that nonsense.
It's just a quiet friendship,
Mayu and Daichi going about their lives,
always touching softly at the edges.
* * *
Notes:
American culture tends to consider shyness a flaw. Japanese culture is very different and more reserved, valuing shy friends.
What is your name?
Anata no o-namae ha nan desu-ka?
あなたのお名前は何ですか
-- Google Translate
Artificial intelligence concerns the existence of machine sapience. This raises complex issues of personhood, including positive and negative portrayals.
Although the structure here is not identical to the four-part Kishōtenketsu, this poem does employ a plot without direct conflict. It also has the spiraling structure typical of Eastern literature, rather than the linear structure of Western.
June 5 2014, 05:04:46 UTC 7 years ago
Yay!
June 5 2014, 05:18:01 UTC 7 years ago