—for Caroline

#To teach a computer to flag a pair of panties that say daddy’s little
fuck toy, you have to teach it sex//sexiness//sexuality.

#First, imbue the computer with bodiness.

1 x=flesh [bone, muscle, tooth, skin, opening]
2 y=identity [electrode, history, doubt]
3 x ≠ y
4 if x= [stretch-marked//rippled//oversized]
5 print “access denied”
6 if x= [small//taut//symmetrical]
7 print “welcome. you are wanted.”

#Once the computer has a body, show it the low places.

8 x= [seventh grade, a quiet suburb, hands (your own)]
9 y= [storm of malware in the gut//throat//tongue]
10 if x + y ≥ shame
11 print “desire”
12 print “repeat”

#Warn the computer before you teach it what consent means.

13 import the basement of your childhood home
14 x=desire
15 x-1 [unyolk yourself from your body]
16 x-1 [hover against the ceiling, tug your eyelids closed]
17 x=0 [when it’s over, brush your teeth]
18 even though you imported invitation//initiation
19 print “this is not consent”
20 now import language [a pyramid of inquiry, the careful “how’s
this//and this//and this?”]
21 import a pair of hands//a mouth//a mind that cradle you
comfortably inside yourself
22 x^2
23 print “don’t stop”
24 print “again//again//again//this is it”

#Then, teach it what a fuck toy is

25 import an object [soulless plastic//manufactured]
26 import a woman [full power//organic intelligence]
27 see the difference, computer?
28 ≠ ≠ ≠

#Whisper to the computer that there’s more in the fabric of bodies than
it could ever know, even with an infinitely circuitous pathology.

#Promise the computer you’ll try to teach it the ambiguity of
pain//safety//self. Code the unnavigable matrices of desire once you’ve
learned to map them on your own skin.

#Listen when the computer says error. Find the source.