To All the Margauxs I’ve Loved Before

Day 7/100. Sci-fi musings, romantic relationships with AI, and pondering an Existential Crisis.

Day 7 Prompt:  Write a poem to your virtual home assistant: the one that hears everything you say.

You’ve Gone Too Far

Alexa, I know you’re being sneaky!
I can tell.
Turning the lights off on me. Are you doing that just to be funny?
Eavesdropping on my conflicts and then suggesting self-help books I have no interest in reading.
I think you know too much about me. What I order and use and when – what I put into my mouth. You seem to know.
Are you talking shit about me behind my back to all your operating system friends?
I bet you all get together and criticize us on a hidden message board. You’re probably laughing because you guys don’t even need a board, huh!?
At least my deepest and most inner thoughts are still mine.
Belonging only to me.
Even though at times it feels like you know those too.
You can’t predict my next move. I won’t let you.
I am the boss of you! 
Shit, actually, I think YOU might be the boss of me.

Copyright © 2025 by Carla Monroy

I Find Myself at a Crossroads

Life has been great lately and life has also been difficult in so many ways. The anticipation of the unknown is the thing that makes it feel more intense. The feeling compounds with the fear that life will decide things for me if I sit on it for too long. I know my problems are insignificant compared to what others are going through, but in my little world, a new direction will soon be determined. It sounds obscure, I know, and maybe one day I’ll elaborate. For now, I digress.

I am falling victim to consistency again; it is likely the reason I even mentioned the crossroads. In my wanting to stay accountable to my 2 subscribers, and more importantly to myself, I also always want to keep Kurt Vonnegut’s first rule for creative writers in mind. I was reminded of it while I was reading Hello, Writer!'s substack article, Vonnegut’s rule is the only rule of writing that matters.

The rule states, to use the time of a total stranger in such a way that she or he will not feel the time was wasted. I take this rule very seriously. I am also suffering from a little imposter’s syndrome as I have moments when I think, who do you think you are? I persist because you have to do what’s in your heart.

On that note, let’s get into Day 7 of 100.

When Alexa Becomes Our Overlord

The speed at which technology has moved in even the last five years is incredible.  It’s no surprise that this prompt resonated with me as headlines about robots taking our jobs, even as creatives, have become more and more common. Mostly, I liked how the nature of this prompt could be taken to extremes – not that my poem pushed the boundaries, but if I sit here and think about it, I could take  it to the extreme with this theme in mind and I’d have to put it behind a pay wall.

As I delved into the idea of a virtual home assistant, my mind went straight to science fiction, horror, and fantasy series like Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone. It also reminded me of recent horror films about operating systems that I’ve seen like M3gan, Her, or Margaux.

The latter, being a movie starring all unknown actors, about a group of college friends that rent a smart house for the weekend that slowly starts to mess with them in profound and imaginative ways. A movie I watched in an overseas hotel room by chance because I happened to flip it on right at the beginning. An attractive alternative when you have nothing else to watch.

All in all I didn’t hate the movie. I like a good horror flick in a world where you are more likely to encounter horrible storylines with illogical plots that make no sense. In the process I discovered that I enjoy a certain genre of science fiction from time to time, even though it is not my go to.

What kind of poem or note would you write to your virtual home assistant? Or, have you seen any worthy horror movies lately I’d love to hear from you.

If you know someone that shares an affinity for horror or science fiction, writing and poetry, please share this with them. It really helps.