Forgotten Mountains

Though the years separate us,

Walls divide us,
Pain and betrayal build our defenses,
There's a secret magic moonshine
From my dreams as a small boy
Lighting the way to Montana,
Where for once we were happy together,
The four of us,
When we were still a family
That loved each other.
Then we hit a frantic deer
And the nightmare began,
Casting all its stress unto us,
A life ended too short,
A family that couldn't breathe.
Hope turned to despair
As blood splattered the car,
As the summer faded away.
But every storm dissipates,
Shedding clouds from the tornadic yelling,
Offering forgiveness
Like the mountains that peaked
On glassy diadem east of Flathead,
Where joy reunited with sorrow.
That's where you'll find me,
A little boy waiting
For his family to return.

Your son dug for data
In the digital firmament
While you and your wife
Rattled suburbia in a coma,
Motorcrash from the moon circuit
Dazzled the darkness
In lingering lightning alleviated
By crowd cheer, wind shear
And the mayhem whirlwind
That sent our house flying
On wings of remorse spread
Through rain splash off the window pane
Where the one you abandoned slept
To keep safe from your wrath,
Oh, the unbridled wrath
Hollering through comfort to be heard
Across the arena deserted,
Destroyed by sonic ear crash
That came from east of hell
To impregnate your ignorance
With the fact you were his father.

Here the water is so blue, so clear
In the alpine basin of ancestral warmth
That first consecrated from glaciers
Reflect off the leaking skin
Like spires in a frozen mirage.
The cobalt skyline is a snowflake's edge,
Bordering the nexus where mountain
Spirits dwell in a tephra cradle,
Where the smell of loam and pine
Blends a potion of serenity so distinct
As to fertilize an aboriginal paradise.
We did not share their heritage
But were welcome anyway
For rejecting the urbanite traditions
That defiled the body and mind.
The sound of campfire sparks,
Flaring like mad behind the melody
Of mantras devoted to outcasts
Drew me in toward their faces,
Their vacant eyes staring into nothing.
The voices melted our grudges
Into puddles of remembrance
That merged into the fire
Disintegrating the flames,
Revealing starlight reborn.

Playground by Richard Powers Explained

    "Playground" by Richard Powers has one of the best twists in modern literature. It is a subtle one that may be hard to realize at first. Spoilers: here is an explanation of the brilliant ending.
    Todd Keane has been writing letters to an AI machine that is in turn writing his life's story. Since he can't remember things from dementia, he has the machine write a story about how he would like to remember them, not necessarily how they were. For example, we are led to believe from the AI story that Ina and Rafi did not sleep with each other. At no point in the novel is it ever stated. Yet that is the only explanation for their abrupt rift, and is the reason Rafi no longer trusts Todd. Todd would like to forget this ever happened, and write a story about him that does not leave a bad impression on his readers. Every narrative in the novel that isn't written in italics is AI, while all the italics are actual letters from Todd to the machine to help generate a story.
    What is also fed to the machine is Evie's popular book with detailed descriptions of the marine world. Todd read it as a little boy, which inspired him to preserve the ocean. But this was a lost dream as greed propelled him into a career in tech. This regret is relieved in the AI story, as Todd saves the island his friends live on, with Evie also living there, who in reality is deceased like Rafi. This is why the book has so many beautiful, albeit quirky descriptions of the oceans. It really does read like AI in some parts, and I wouldn't be surprised if Powers actually used it, though highly doubtful- he would lose integrity over making a point. He is a gifted writer whose new book rivals "The Overstory" as his best. 
    The twist is that Rafi never lived on the island. He was dead the whole time. But the AI that Todd worked on his whole life resurrected him by changing history, as Rafi had once philosophized about the point of evolution. It's a rare book when so many loose ends are tied together at once. 
    This would make a great film, with many layered metaphors involving manta rays and the game of Go. It demands a re-read, at least for me.