Inspiration tingles with instinctive security
As the excitement of the possible
Turning into the probable
Builds and grows with every second gone by
For every eye scans a hallway
Looking for a flash of the pale pink

For once the gestapo given up
On weeding the weed
Their attention turned elsewhere
And every girl and boy
On the surface good students
Are undercover just nuts and bolts

Beware the Cybernaut

E Pluribus Unum is evident but silent
For Jesus is a superstar
But he doesn’t wear
Howick Five Star blue jeans
So Glitter, Soul, and Heavy Metal
Are elected school council for a day

For weeks maybe months
The children have been listening to their radios
Tuned in to the latest fads
Preparing them for a battle of a different kind
Soon to be at hand

Beware the Cybernaut

And with mind ripping coolness
They accept their orders
From the turntable messengers
There’s nothing to be afraid of
Say the many cliques
That interact with one other
Little do they realize
Soon they too to be drafted
In the upheaval at hand

Beware the Cybernaut

It’s been said the mighty Oak is born of change
It had its roots from humbler origins
And it doesn’t take a Bachelor of Arts degree
Or a teacher’s certificate
To realize that a machine
Is much greater than the sum of all its parts
What will the high school principal do?
When he sees that first naked body
Streak past a crowded lunch hour main lobby?

Beware the Cybernaut


© 1974
Inputted and revised © 2019
Revised © 2022

10/04/2019

Author's Note: The second poem, that along with Princess Cybernaut, sum up my early experimentation with the word. I don’t actually recall when I first came across it, but obviously considering its true meaning, it had something to do with automation...computers. At that point in my life, I was taking Computer Science and COBOL programming. So, I took the word and ran with it. Inspired by the 1974 Gloucester High School streaker incident, and resulting sit-in, which occurred in protest for the calling of the local police, for what was mainly seen only as a teenage prank. As a result of the protest, no charges were laid against the individual in question. As luck or bad luck would have it, I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, and missed the whole thing, only finding out the next day from friends what had happened. And this is the resulting poem, full of wild imagination, idealism, immaturity, inexperience, all wrapped up into one.

Posted on 10/04/2019
Copyright © 2025 Chris Sorrenti