Is it an ugly green with
fangs and a face
pitted with scars and sores

will its claws cut you to ribbons
or turn you into strips of bacon

or does it look like you
and me but just frozen
on the inside

in The Day the Earth Stood Still
that robot was scary not because

it shrieked wailed
and maimed

but because it just stood there
and gave us nothing

to connect to or
hold on to

Whit Howland © 2020