Astroboy

By | 17 March 2005

Pint-sized robot boy, post-atomic Pinocchio.
My searchlight eyes, laser fingers & machine
Gun bum. Energy cassettes fed me, progeny
Of Tezuka: Jap culture sick of giant things –
Yamato, Hiroshima, Godzilla, Ronin Mishima.
A machine family loved me, management too.
Interstices of human and robot law governed
Who? Being a titanium Telemachus I longed
For father figures but found enemies instead.
Robot Vikings, Bruton, even a bronze-clad twin.
Brother Atlas – his lightning sword & Pegasus
Hurt, but even he found a new heart: albeit tin.
I fought mostly for that mechanical Holy Grail
A soul to make this little robot boy whole again.

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