Baby blues

I flounder⁹ 
without a password
 
marshy territory
potentially malignant files¹⁰ 
risky execution of commands
viral discharge
of your being
 
directly accessed
no configuration
in an unstable system
open to collapse
at your pleasure¹¹
 
abortion imminent¹² 
restart

⁹ Weighing a literal translation for the first line and more figurative options, such as I’m suffocating or I’m floundering, I settled on flounder, as it also alludes to fumbling, which one does, when one cannot find or doesn’t remember, a password!
¹⁰ I toyed with various solutions to archivos peligrosos but quickly went to malignant files because of the way the poem draws a playful analogy between the organic and digital worlds and the risk of dangerous takeovers or infections. I considered infectious for peligroso but settled on malignant, a good fit that addresses both organic and digital risk, as in malignant tumour and malware.
¹¹ A tu antojo is a delightful Spanish phrase, with no literal English equivalent.  You choose between a pragmatic and functional phrase, “at your orders”, or the suggestive “at your pleasure,” since a literal translation means “that what is before your eyes… or before your glasses…”.  Pleasure wins the day, though understood with dramatic irony.
¹² The poem’s lyricism is not about repeating or copying the same old same old ideas but about adapting old blues to new blueskins, so to speak.  Gloria Macher’s poem Baby Blues deals with and articulates a very real ethical situation –the quandary and choice of abortion– using today’s aesthetic metaphors.  Living in a digital world doesn’t necessarily help us deal with the pain and terror of our organic bodies.  It may even accentuate our organic distress.  Here at least, this poem understands it with a new lyrical language that adds much needed levity through its dramatic intensity and age-old irony.

Baby blues

Me ahogo
sin contraseña

terrenos pantanosos
archivos potencialmente peligrosos
entorno de ejecución arriesgado
descarga viral
de tu ser

acceso directo
sin configuración
en un sistema inestable
abierto al colapso
a tu antojo

aborto inminente
reiniciación