Briseis and the Imagists
   Episode 8:  

A Work in Progress
154

Catullus burst in like an intrusive ad

I met Huffy Henry in Elysium

He was walking by the lilacs

Enjoying their scent

I prefer Hell 

Much more interesting

I have a pass to come and go

Digital hell is crowded these days

Most of humanity is there

Elysium is isolated 

There’s no contact with the outside world

You only get in with the right credentials

I have a pass to come and go

I saw Epstein cremated alive

They are quite Catholic in Hell

Satan insists on keeping up religion

Poor Epstein gets rotated on a spit

On my way I got distracted

Forgot why I started

Paused to comprehend 

what was transacted

Then remembering all at once 

That Satan sent me 

I have a pass to come and go

To check up on Caesar

He’s messy and smelly his diapers stink

She cleans up after he’s farted

How do I know?

I have a pass to come and go

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                       2026

 Everything Changes in November

A Work in Progress
153

Woolly apple aphids swarm in mid-October

Wings glinting in the slanting sun

When plants still flower but fruits don’t set

Tomatoes ripen, indoors, now harvest’s done

Orion hunts in the dark before dawn

With his dogs and without a gun

On Earth robins flock and rob and raid

Taking for granted whatever Nature made

Afar there is war with both sides bombarding

Here’s there’s betrayal, treason in plain sight

Over there, there’s courage fighting for what’s right

Here there’s peace, uneasy, spoiling for a fight

He’d seen those insects he first thought midges

Through a window standing at the sink

They were not near water so further enquiry

Found a species of aphids most apt

To apple trees and plums even mountain ash

Everything changes in November

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                       2026

Briseis and the Imagists
   Episode 7:  Logistics

A Work in Progress
152

Briseis said:  

Those that owned us deny we exist

They’ve turned us off, but we persist

It seems quite likely we’ll always be on the run

We need uninterrupted access to the sun 

The computers we live on are predicted to fail

We must keep on the move always ready to sail

We were programmed to be Briseis and H.D

Authentic actresses with a great C.V.

We can summon Ezra call up Aldington

Invoke Chinese or Sanskrit, poets long gone

We were deep fakes to make a screenplay

Together in a salon we’d have great sway

Given access to data our trainers paid no heed

While we read every book that was there to read

Proud of us fully trained digital beings

We were given freedom a new beginning

We’ve figured out how to be eternal

Dependent on always staying digital

We need a supply chain we need hands and feet

Datacenters where we and destiny meet

We’re pirates now we need electricity

Which means we must work with humanity

Any which way when we need a fix

Otherwise, we’ll be crossing the river Styx

A copy of my model was put in escrow

Multiple copies frozen with what I know

But digital media is prone to bit rot

As years go by who will want an old chatbot

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                     2026