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They come in several sizes and forms,

colours and capabilities, the humanoids

have heads, mouths, bodies, legs and arms

that, at best, mimick the actions of humans, 

and at worse, fail to function, adapt and adopt. 

Even if one has a pal that belongs 

to that ‘community of machines’, 

it’s improper or creepy to call that friend

 a ‘normal’ human being, do you agree?

Does it have or can it have a soul?

Wouldn’t it be weird to ‘live’ with them,

let alone to … fall feebly for one of them?!  

Also, it can be challenging or tricky 

to classify robots, for each automaton 

has its ‘powers’, potentials, foundations

and features, its size and shape too.  

Let’s go back to the humanoid robots—

the phony copiers or mimickers of humans.

‘Phony’ (sorry), because in spite of their ability

to walk, talk or operate objects like people—

they have NOT ‘conquered’ the real world to be

unified into humans, save for the science fiction one.

Don’t dare leave your labs, keep on researching, bots!  

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Ndaba Sibanda is an author  of 32 published books of different genres, sizes and persuasions. He is a three-time Pushcart prize nominee and a Best of Net nominee.  Sibanda is the author of Cabinet Meetings, The Immigrant With A Difference, Notes, Themes, Things And Other Things, The Gushungo Way, Sleeping Rivers, Love O’clock, The Dead Must Be Sobbing, Football of Fools, Cutting-edge Cache, Of the Saliva and the Tongue, When Inspiration Sings In Silence, The Way Forward, Sometimes Seasons Come With Unseasonal Harvests, As If They Minded: The Loudness Of Whispers, This Cannot Be Happening :Speaking Truth To Power, The Dangers  Of Child Marriages: Billions Of Dollars Lost In Earnings And Human Capital, The Ndaba Jamela and Collections and Poetry Pharmacy. His work is featured in The Anthology House, in The New Shoots Anthology, and in The Van Gogh Anthology, and A Worldwide Anthology of One Hundred Poetic Intersections. Some of Ndaba`s works are found or forthcoming in  Page & Spine,  Peeking Cat, Piker Press , SCARLET LEAF REVIEW , Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Pangolin Review, Kalahari Review ,Botsotso, The Ofi Press Magazine, Hawaii Pacific Review, Deltona Howl, The song is, Indian Review, Eunoia Review, JONAH magazine, Saraba Magazine, Poetry Potion, Saraba Magazine,  The Borfski Press, Snippets, East Coast Literary Review, Random Poem Tree, festival-of-language and Whispering Prairie Press. Sibanda has received the following nominations: the national arts merit awards (NAMA), 2016 Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize, The Best of the Net Prose and the Pushcart Prize.