Future Shock, 2026

by Peggy Schimmelman / September 27th, 2026

The world awoke to a surreal revelation:
Artificial intelligence has jumped the fence—
its creators in a panic: we have lost control.
Our president puts on a blindfold.

How did we not see this coming?
We read those books. We saw the movies.
But Skynet was never supposed to be real.
“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that”
was a chilling line from a futuristic film.
Blue pill or red pill? Clever screenwriting.

Yet here we are: Earth at the mercy
of despots and genius technocrats
entranced by the charms of soulless robots
with whom they have so much in common:
no empathy, no shame, no conscience.
no humanity.

Panic is but a hoax, says our president.
Forward we go! To hell with controls.
Swallow your pill. Open those doors.
Trust me, he demands.

“I’m sorry, Sir. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Peggy Schimmelman’s work includes the poetry chapbooks Make Me Your Love Song, Crazytown, and Tick-Tock, as well as  the novels Insomniacs, Inc. and <a href="http://Peggy Schimmelman’s work includes the poetry chapbooks Make Me Your Love Song, Crazytown, and Tick-Tock, as well as  the novels Insomniacs, Inc. and Whippoorwills Her poetry and short fiction, heavily influenced by her musical interests and her Ozark roots, have appeared in the North American Review, Naugatuck River Review, Peregrine, WinningWriters.com, the Aleola Journal of Poetry and Art, Pacific Review, Comstock Review, Wild Musette, Dissident Voice, 100wordstories.org, and other journals and anthologies. Peggy was the poet laureate of Livermore, CA (2022-2026)." target="_blank">Whippoorwills Her poetry and short fiction, heavily influenced by her musical interests and her Ozark roots, have appeared in the North American Review, Naugatuck River Review, Peregrine, WinningWriters.com, the Aleola Journal of Poetry and Art, Pacific Review, Comstock Review, Wild Musette, Dissident Voice, 100wordstories.org, and other journals and anthologies. Peggy was the poet laureate of Livermore, CA (2022-2026). Read other articles by Peggy, or visit Peggy's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, September 27th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.