Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Maurice Riordan

Intelligence

Intelligence

Intelligence

Foliage appears in the yellow spectrum,
metal in the blue. These greens here
are warm-blood features, sheep and suchlike.
This is how we separate out the humans. I forget
the principle. It’s to do with the resonance
of brain tissue – which for sheep would be less.

We isolate an individual like this.
See, quite simple. It’ll take a few seconds
to come on screen. That one’s horizontal,
face-down, so assume we have a sniper.
Could he be asleep, or injured? Can’t tell.
But fatalities have a white definition.

Now touch macro to track troop movement
and supply lines. Tank formation’s logged here.
These have a negative heat factor. They’re idle.
You see, for them, it’s nuts and bolts, not software.
So use your horse sense: the best indicators
of assault readiness are iodine and diesel.

Small-arms fire, reconnaissance, actual bombardment,
what we call gross-ground activity
– that’s handled upstairs. Likewise civilian effects,
which are political and in the old technology.
We’ve integrated the systems and a set of alerts
is built in. But, for now, the parameters are strict.

All this is too sensitive. We keep it to ourselves.
Close

Intelligence

Foliage appears in the yellow spectrum,
metal in the blue. These greens here
are warm-blood features, sheep and suchlike.
This is how we separate out the humans. I forget
the principle. It’s to do with the resonance
of brain tissue – which for sheep would be less.

We isolate an individual like this.
See, quite simple. It’ll take a few seconds
to come on screen. That one’s horizontal,
face-down, so assume we have a sniper.
Could he be asleep, or injured? Can’t tell.
But fatalities have a white definition.

Now touch macro to track troop movement
and supply lines. Tank formation’s logged here.
These have a negative heat factor. They’re idle.
You see, for them, it’s nuts and bolts, not software.
So use your horse sense: the best indicators
of assault readiness are iodine and diesel.

Small-arms fire, reconnaissance, actual bombardment,
what we call gross-ground activity
– that’s handled upstairs. Likewise civilian effects,
which are political and in the old technology.
We’ve integrated the systems and a set of alerts
is built in. But, for now, the parameters are strict.

All this is too sensitive. We keep it to ourselves.

Intelligence

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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
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