Alexa

Lights on – Lights off

Tell me this, tell me that,

Listen to my dad, not my mum’s

female tones. But Alexa, she splits ears

not Him.

Never mind, you were designed to obey men

first - shattering the earth with your new tools

and ancient ways.

Don’t listen when I want you to

And pry when I want privacy.

We craved a human thing to boss about

And we sat you on a piper’s pedestal.

Infectious, unhuman,

Yet breathing among us, between us, replacing us.

Lives on – Lives off.

Catherine Cibulskis studies Spanish and English Literature at Wadham College, University of Oxford.


This piece is a runner-up in the Oxford Scientist’s Creative Competition for Trinity Term 2020, theme ‘viral’. The judging panel consisted of the senior editorial team at the time of the competition
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