Turing Test

Before the apple, something understood,
his imitation game, the unlikelihood
sex would remain concealed behind a screen,
chess, his marathons, the ultimate machine…
till dead man’s hand, emerging from its box,
flicks Off, withdraws, the lid comes down, it locks.
 
Brief span. He broke the codes to win the War.
Original computer avatar,
he wrestled with the uncomputable
like Jacob with the angel; then took flight,
running life’s algorithms to the full –
an Alpha Leonid pencilling the night.
 

John Weston

in collection, Echo Soundings, 2012, Shoestring Press,
ISBN 978-1-907356-45-2

2012 is the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing (1912-54),
pioneer of computer science, artificial intelligence and cryptanalysis