Teaching the Ape to Write Poems James Tate, 1943 - 2015 They didn’t have much trouble teaching the ape to write poems: first they strapped him into

Teaching the Ape to Write Poems James Tate, 1943 - 2015 They didn’t have much trouble teaching the ape to write poems: first they strapped him into the chair, then tied the pencil around his hand (the paper had already been nailed down). Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder and whispered into his ear: “You look like a god sitting there. Why don’t you try writing something?” My interpretation is, while we entertain these ideas of "teaching" animals or machines as something we control and decide to do, a long chain of events (evolution, causality, space jesus, technobabble simulation magic or ancient astronauts all the way back) behind us placed us here as well. We look like gods sitting here.