Welcome Home

 1.

Make a sphere

Spin it as quickly as possible

Until you can hear it hum

And wait for the center to collapse

Watch dimples form at the poles

Until the sphere becomes a donut

When you see the hourglass

Pluck it from the image

Remove the bottom from each side

And dump out the sand

How did we get here?

Staring at time like it was some thing

We could hold in our hand

Instead of sand slipping through

A clutching grasp

And fingers that shatter 

As easily as glass

2. 

Lay cake peer

Spin it as prickly as paws a ball

Until you can hear it bum

And weight for the sinner to co-lapse

Watch dimples for-matt the poles

Until the square be-comes a daw-nut

When you sea the our-glass

Pluck it from the I'm-age

Remove the bottom from each side

And dump out the sand

How did we get hair?

Staring at thyme like it was some zing

We could hold in our band

Instead of band slipping through

A clutching grass.

3. 

Grey jake beer

Spin it as prickly as paws a brawl

Until you can hear a drum

And weight for the sinner to co-lapse

Watch dimples for-matt the poles

Until the sphere be-comes a dawn-nut

When you sea the hourg-lass

Luck it from the I'm-age

Remove the bottom from each side

And jump out the sand

Hound did we get hair?

Staring at time like it was some zing

We could hold in our bland

Instead of band flipping through

A clutching gas.

4.

Loi kook poor

Spun at us pracklu us pus us bull

Ontoll yoo kun hoir ut bom

Und wite for thi sennor tu cullopso

Wotch doplos firmot thi pules

Ontoll thi spori bocomis i dinot

Whin yoo soo thi hiorgoss

Plack ot frum thi omogi

Rimovi thi battom frum iech sidi

Ond damp out thi sind

Hurd dod wo gut hir?

Storing ot tomo loki ot wis somo zong

Wi cuold hild on our bind

Instiod of bind slippung thruogh

O clitchong gos.

5.

Flowing brook lure,

Spun at a sprightly pace like a bull

Anticipate the sound of the drum

And wait for the moment of collapse

See ripples form at the banks

Until the stream transforms into a delta

When you glimpse the sandglass

Pluck it from the image

Jump in the sand

And relax

You are home

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So, for this poem, the first stanza was what the kids call "cyphered". But, the following stanzas are all algorithmically generated using phonetic paraphasia. The language because more and more disjointed until the last stanza. The third and fourth stanzas are reptitions on the second. However, for the fourth stanza, I asked ChatGPT to find real words to replace the nonsense words.

I ended up completing the poem after a server error stopped it. I really liked what it had started and after I asked it to try again, nothing was the same. It had nowhere near the same feel as lines like ripples from the banks, and the moment of collapse. I kept the original, broken text and completed it.